BROKEN

When India cricketers refused customary handshakes with their Pakistani counterparts, already worrying sporting relationships hit the nadir. For so long, the athletes of these two countries continued to mingle and maintained friendly relations. Now? There is complete breakdown of trust. Swaroop Swaminathan tries to explore the burning issue

- Swaroop Swaminathan

REMEMBER that time in 1996 when India and Pakistan became one team marketed as a Wills and XI (Ind/Pak) played a cricket match against Sri Lanka before the World Cup? Saeed Anwar opened with Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble shared spin-bowling duties with Aamir Sohail and Ajay Jadeja came out to bat either side of Ijaz Ahmed and Rashid Latif. It was a sensational show of South Asian solidarity with a heavy dollop of cricketing diplomacy to show Sri Lanka was a safe place to visit.

Or that time when hockey players from across the border would seek out their Indian counterparts for meals in the gullies of Old Delhi. The reason? Buying sarees for their wives back home. More recently, Shaheen Shah Afridi, during the last edition of the Asia Cup in 2023, presented Jasprit Bumrah with a gift for the birth of his child. "Love," the Pakistan pacer had posted on the gram.

"And peace." Want a different sport? In April, Neeraj Chopra sent Arshad Nadeem an invitation to participate in a javelin event named after the 2021 Summer Games champ. Staying with Chopra and Nadeem, cast your minds back to the immediate aftermath of the Paris Games when their mothers stole the internet. "Neeraj is like my son," said Nadeem's mother.

"Arshad is also like our child," said Chopra's mother.

Or take your minds back to the early 2000s when Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi united as one at a Challenger event in the US. In 2007, they rekindled their partnership before embracing the tagline given to them. 'Indo-Pak Express'.

Throughout the above-mentioned time period-spanning more than three decades-India and Pakistan have exchanged cross-border hostilities. There have been major attacks, including Pulwama (2019), Pathankot (2016) and Mumbai (2008). Each time these incidents took place, hostilities between the governments resumed and tension lingered in the air.