VALENTINE WEEK AFFAIR

As India, Pak gear up for another match, a look how the emotions, economics of the clash & more

- SWAROOP SWAMINATHAN

SAINT Valentine, the story goes, was martyred in ancient Rome because he continued to perform weddings for couples in secret at a time when marriages were banned.

Just before his execution, the doctor or priest (depending on what part of the internet you believe) is thought to have sent a note to his jailer’s daughter with the words ‘... to my Valentine’. That’s how February 14 became an important day in the calendar. The day he was executed.

It would be grand to see some of Valentine’s ethos over the next few days in Colombo but the smart money is that there will be no love lost. Considering everything that has happened between India and Pakistan over the last 10 months, it would be a minor miracle if their senior men’s cricket teams even shook hands. Welcome to a fixture where pleasantries are policed, politeness is shadow-banned, rudeness is good and war metaphors are de rigueur.

When that clash begins at the R Premadasa Stadium on Sunday evening, a rising stars women’s Asia Cup match between the two countries will have just finished in Bangkok. In all, the two countries, in various formats across different age-groups, will have played each other 10 times since September 14, 2025 (including the two slated for Sunday). It kind of accurately captures the dichotomy and the fix world cricket finds itself in.