Is the Indo-Pak rivalry provoking The Ashes?

Kolkata: The Ashes used to be a genteel cricketing contest, timeless intensity softened by a timely glass of beer. But it’s getting systematically inspired by the hypersonic Indo Pak cricketing contests and even the lengthy decorum of the Long Room has not been spared.

From a fan perspective, there are three kinds of sporting rivalries. The Demographic variety, where locational identity, whether national or regional, define allegiances. Like much of Olympian disciplines and indeed The Ashes in its original avatar. Serious and sincere with an occasional icing of passion, but usually within cognitive boundaries. Emotional this certainly and selectively passionate, depending on the vivacity of the stage.

Then there is the Psychographic category, wherein fans choose their heroes based on clear preferences and likes. When ‘neutral’ Indians cheer for Premier League Football, this is why they decipher their favoured ones. Exactly the scenario in Tennis where Nadal versus Djokovic is a matter of spontaneous personal decision, comparable to Beatles versus Elvis. This is actually the candy bar of the piece, an unfavourable outcome akin to a disappointing dinner at a favourite restaurant, merely an anecdotal transgression.

Finally, and most direly, there is the Psycho-Demographic cocktail where pride can veer to prejudice and the spirit of the games are overwhelmed by the spirits from the ages. Indigenous Club Football fans often operate at this level while so does the famed, often infamous, Indo-Pak Cricket rivalry. Where local differences assume political dimensions and sports become metaphors for bloodier shootouts,which we know too well.

The Ashes, for the core Anglo-Australian fans, has moved quietly and suddenly from the first to the third, a quaint demographic intersection becoming a psycho-demographic hodgepodge. Where the Football Fan culture of England is seemingly penetrating the upper class bastion of Cricket, and this is indeed a revolution or evolution as you see it. Good or bad, we do not quite know, but ugly it certainly is.

In case you have been busy elsewhere, the current series has often been ‘Not Cricket’. MCC members, since suspended, confronting the Australians in the pavilion, after Jonny Bairstow was shot while strolling. Steve Smith booed incessantly, in spite of being regarded next only to Bradman, greatness be damned. Rishi Sunak passing the odd vitriolic comment or two, as the spirit of the game is being contravened by the most unlikely of quarters, surely a slur on Carolean etiquette. Fans have been at the edge of their civil composure and a full-fledged slugfest is possibly imminent.

Nitin Menon, presiding umpire, may well permit himself a minor chuckle as this conduct is clearly a South Asian import, an asylum seeker in the agenda of the Indo-UK Free Trade Agreement. Ever since home ties became nearly obsolete and Sharjah assumed non grata status, India Pakistan matches are occurring regularly in the UK, Australia and elsewhere.

Telecast regimes are greatly liberal and everybody watches everything nowadays, no longer following just regional interest. South Asians are genuinely becoming more influential in the universe at large and the UK in particular, so just like Bhangra or Chicken Tikka Masala, a fiery strain has moved to the gentleman’s game.

Which actually may not be a bad thing, actually. Not that the conduct of UK soccer fans should travel to Cricket but a certain patriotic physicality can be attractive to newer generations of followers. Even the admirable experiment of The Hundred has failed to gain sufficient currency and County Cricket ( First-Class) is clearly in geriatric mode, in terms of audience profiles. From a pure play marketing point of view, the Indo-Pak seasoning of The Ashes can be a valuable game changer as competitive youngsters find newer meaning in the game.

The Australians, anyways, were renowned for a culture of sledging over the decades, uncharitably ascribed by British media to their captive origins. In some ways, the tidings of the England leg are sufficient licence to do an encore in Melbourne and Sydney and that will certainly be a lot more colourful. Equally, it will do no harm to the endangered species of Test Cricket, and elevate it from retro leanings to the refreshing renewal of ‘nowstalgia’, the gleaming past served in the bustling cauldron of today. Come to think of it, Douglas Jardine’s Bodyline series had enough and more of this bloodcurdling charisma, mellowed down the ages by post-war civilities.

As proud South Asians, we may view this cultural transformation of The Ashes to be apt Gurudakshina, laced with deserving Bhut Jolokia ghost pepper. They did present us with the Gentleman’s game which became a compelling adhesive for a deeply divergent population. In return, with due interest for the occasional colonial atrocity, we are honoured to offer the Hooligan’s game. Which given football antecedents, they are pretty good at anyways.