Axar Patel press conference: “We see them as a team, we don’t see a rivalry” after India beat Pakistan
Agha said on Saturday that he wants cricket to be played in spirit as it has always been. Surya didn’t rule out a handshake either, but he couldn’t melt the ice.But if you watched the proceedings before the match, you could see that people around the sport were ready to move on from the off-field animosity that had made the cricketing world toxic.Usman Tariq, Pakistan’s mystery slinger, was warming up and Harbhajan Singh, one of the staunchest critics of his act, was standing nearby. Tariq didn’t care what was said in the introduction to the game. He made a ‘salaam’ to the senior practitioner of his art and the Indian great reciprocated.It wasn’t just like that. Harbhajan interviewed Sahibzada Farhan, who was India’s enemy No. 1 in Dubai a few months back, and everything seemed quite cordial. However, the highlight of the day was when the extraordinaire had a long conversation with Misbah ul Haq.
Pakistani fans during the match between India and Pakistan. (PTI photo)
One couldn’t help but flash back to the T20 final in 2007 when Misbah took on Bhajji and almost single-handedly turned the game around. While Misbah stayed on, the Indian front office chose not to be the last out and Joginder Sharma won the match for India. We don’t know if it was talked about, but you could see the friendly vibes from the two giants.Not too far from the cricket action, Shabana Azmi, one of India’s biggest actresses, performed at the Ceylon Literary and Arts Festival. She was recently seen in a meaty role in the cricket-related film Ghoomer, and when TOI asked her how she felt about everything happening in sports, Azmi said, “We keep forgetting that cricketers from both sides of the border are friends with each other and it is important that sports and art transcend national boundaries,” adding that it should work as “adhesion”.This drew considerable applause from the small gathering. And once you left the confines of the small auditorium and walked towards the massive Premadasa, you could see Indian and Pakistani fans getting their faces painted by the same artist. Of course the Indians outnumbered the Pakistanis, but there was not an iota of hostility. During Pakistan’s reply, at the fall of their sixth wicket in the 12th over, fans in green began to leave the ground.An Indian fan playfully told them, “Are you leaving?” One Pakistani replied, “We all have to leave sometime,” and then they shook hands.There probably isn’t much on the field apart from a desperate desire to win cricket. But then it is not for public consumption.