By Prakash Nair 
New Delhi, September 15: India crushed Pakistan in Dubai on Sunday night. Seven wickets, barely 16 overs. A match everyone had waited for, but on the field it was done before the crowd had settled. Off the field, though, it is proving harder to wrap up.
The Match That Barely Lasted
Pakistan, put in to bat, never looked in control. They crawled to 127 for 9, unable to break free from India’s bowlers. Arshdeep Singh and Axar Patel choked the innings without doing anything flashy. When India came out, Abhishek Sharma blasted 31 off 13, then Suryakumar Yadav did the rest. Calm, controlled, unbeaten on 47. The chase ended in 15.5 overs.
That was it. A game hyped for weeks, gone in a flash.
More Than Runs
What stayed wasn’t the scoreboard. It was Suryakumar’s words. He didn’t talk about strike rates or partnerships. He looked straight into the cameras and said the win was for the Indian soldiers killed in Pahalgam. “We stand with their families,” he added.
Those lines travelled faster than any boundary. Supporters called it the “right message,” linking cricket glory to national grief. It also underlined the problem in this rivalry, cricket and politics don’t run parallel, they run into each other.
Jaipur’s Street Fury
By morning, Jaipur was on edge. At the Amar Jawan Jyoti, Congress workers gathered to denounce the match itself. Effigies burned. LED screens smashed. “Soldiers die, and we play cricket with Pakistan?” one shouted as police tried to keep order.
This isn’t new. Every Indo-Pak clash triggers the same fight over whether sport can—or should—be separate from conflict. The Jaipur protests showed which side of the argument still has fire in its belly.
Punjab Sees An Opening
But in Punjab, the talk went the other way. Leaders and religious figures used the match to demand the reopening of the Kartarpur Corridor. The passage to the gurdwara across the border has been shut since “Operation Sindoor.” Their logic was blunt if cricket is possible, why can’t pilgrims walk across?
Some even revived calls for restoring trade. In border towns, the game sparked memories of shared markets and open crossings. Where Jaipur saw betrayal, Punjab saw opportunity.
The Anthem Blunder
And then, the anthem. Before the toss, Pakistan’s national anthem wasn’t played correctly or so it seemed. The mistake, small in execution, huge in perception, caused uproar online. Pakistani fans and media slammed it as careless, if not insulting. In a fixture already heavy with meaning, it only added fuel.
Never Just A Game
So India won. Easily. But the aftermath was anything but simple. One captain’s dedication. A protest in Rajasthan. A call for pilgrimage in Punjab. A bungled anthem.
That is India–Pakistan cricket. It brings people together on screens, and tears them apart in debate. It will happen again if the two sides meet later in the tournament. And when it does, the story won’t stop at the boundary rope.
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- Prakash Nairhttps://hindustanherald.in/author/prakash/
- Prakash Nairhttps://hindustanherald.in/author/prakash/
- Prakash Nairhttps://hindustanherald.in/author/prakash/
- Prakash Nairhttps://hindustanherald.in/author/prakash/
