Former India captain Gautam Gambhir said that he feels that India-Pakistan rivalry has been turned into a money churning industry and no one wants to reduce the jingoism as it generates revenue.
Gambhir also gave the example of the Australia-New Zealand rivalry in cricket and other sports, which is relatively downplayed in comparison to the India-Pakistan conflict which sees multiple advertisements made on the same.
"It is difficult to notice the cricketing rivalry between Australia and New Zealand. Like India and Pakistan, they are neighbors too. Like Indians and Pakistanis, Aussies and Kiwis hate losing to each other. While Wikipedia has a page on 'India Pakistan Cricket Rivalry', it is more widespread for Aussies and Kiwis," Gambhir wrote in his column for The Times of India on Sunday.
"By no means is the rivalry as fierce as the one between India and Pakistan. Have you wondered why? Are they not cynical enough to create lop-sided advertising campaigns to sell their products riding on what is essentially a cricket match? Or is it the economics of the major stakeholders? I have a few thoughts which may not be in the order of relevance but largely my chain of theories,” he added.
Pakistan defeated India in their opening match of the ICC T20 World Cup in Dubai, which was the Babar Azam-led side’s first-ever victory over the Men in Blue in World Cup history. The Babar Azam-led Pakistan put up an inspiring show to hammer Virat Kohli's India by 10 wickets.
"History of India and Pakistan seems to be at the base of the sporting rivalry. Since 1947 we have fought four times and have had numerous skirmishes on the border. This has seeped into sports too, cricket being the frontrunner.
I sometimes feel that India-Pakistan rivalry has become an industry in itself, which keeps many other verticals warm. No one seems to be in a hurry to reduce the jingoism volume on this one as it generates revenue," Gambhir wrote.
The left-handed opener, who played 58 Tests, 147 ODIs, and 37 T20Is for India and was part of many high-profile India-Pakistan clashes, said that the sheer numbers in terms of population that fuel the Indo-Pak cricket rivalry even further and incomparable to any other.
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"The combined population of Australia and New Zealand is around three crores while here we are catering to 22 crores in Pakistan and approximately 140 crores at home. The database is chalk and cheese. Even if 10 percent of the population of India and Pakistan are engaged, we are talking to five times more the combined number of Australia and New Zealand," he wrote.
"Then there is a small matter of emotions from Indians and Pakistanis. I am not suggesting that Aussie and Kiwis are heartless but we can’t say, “bad luck” or “well played” and share a post-match drink. It is not only Virat Kohli but most of India wears their heart on their sleeve. Let’s accept it that we are poor losers and that is what that marketing guy exploits when he sucks us into high-pitched, biased promotional campaigns,” the 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 World Cup-winning opener wrote.
(Times of India inputs)
