The Other Glovemen

Diplomacy has striven to use the immense hold cricket has over people.

- Girinandini Singh

CRICKET—the very word conjures up a serene winter’s day…the plucky exploits of men in white…windscreens billowing in the wind…the ‘plock’ of bat meeting ball…wild cheering of spectators…the lengthening shadow creeping across the ground in harmony to the waning sun (rain-splotched English summers be damned)…. Yet, with its increasing hold on people, this idealised arcadia took on the contours of faith; when bands of eleven ‘represented’ countries, patriotic pride and its handmaiden, nationalism, reared its head. When ‘incidents’ and controversies on the field went out of hand, statecraft had to be deployed to stanch the flow of passion. On the other hand, diplomacy has taken recourse to cricket, to use its immense goodwill and its incredible reach into every nook and cranny.

Elements of all this can be plainly seen as the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 edges to its mid-point: the colourful fervour, raw emotions, exemplary sportsmanship and…controversies. Last week, the International Cricket Council (ICC) officially requested the BCCI to have the small insignia on Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s gloves to be removed. An honorary lt. colonel in the parachute regiment of the Territorial Army, the dagger with the wings insignia is similar to the para forces’ badge, and therefore in breach of the ICC regulations that players can’t wear anything that is related to ‘political, religious or racial activities or causes’. Indeed, shades of politics have always coloured cricket, despite efforts to keep it clear of its innate political undercurrents.