When cricket becomes war minus the shooting

This column is not about cricket.

- Karan Thapar

It's about the behaviour of the Indian cricket team. More specifically, it's about grace on the games field, etiquette and the decent and proper behaviour expected of sportsmen. And it's prompted by the decision of our cricket team not to shake hands with their Pakistani opponents in Colombo last Sunday.Frankly, that wasn’t cricket. Indeed, that phrase sums up the point I want to make.

Cricket, they say, is a gentleman's game. It follows that there is a certain decorum that should be observed. Shaking hands with your opponents is part of the spirit of cricket. Not to do so flouts it.

There is an important point to remember about sport. The opposing side are not your adversaries. They are certainly not your enemies. They are merely opponents as keen to win the game as you are to defeat them. Shaking hands with your opponent exemplifies the spirit of sport. Shorn of that spirit, sport is reduced to just physical exercise. It loses its higher meaning.