INDIA was in strife. The Babri Masjid had been demolished in controversial circumstances. Rioting had broken out. Mumbai was in complete disarray. Communal rioting had turned the kinetic city into a war zone. Not since the blood and gore of partition was India witness to such brutal violence. December 6 gave way to January 6. Two rounds of tragic bloodletting meant that fear hung over the megapolis, smoke was seen billowing out of the north western suburbs, flag marches were commonplace in south Mumbai and generally speaking law and order had broken down. India was getting a pasting in distant South Africa even as parts of India was in flames. The guillotine was hanging over Indian skipper Mohommed Azharuddin’s head. England was due to visit India. It was the winter of discontent over 1992-93. As always in recent memory in India, cricket proved to be the great healer, it provided succour to a beleaguered nation.
India’s cricket manager was former captain Ajit Wadekar. He plumped for Azharuddin. He argued with the selectors that Azhar needed to be given one last opportunity for the home series against what appeared to be a strong English team. Wadekar instilled a code of conduct for discipline, reading the riot act to a team which had partied hard in South Africa. The opening Test was in Kolkata, Azhar’s captaincy was hanging by a slender thread and England opted for a four pronged pace attack. Azhar exorcised all his demons as he let loose against the hapless English, smashing everything in sight. The English wilted under the sheer intensity of the fusillade and India almost overnight exorcised all its collective communal demons. India’s Muslim captain had shown the way to his countrymen. He asked for calm in the streets running with blood. Calm in the face of adversity. The people responded by closing ranks against the interloper called communalism. Its resultant hatred was buried under the weight of India’s spin trinity Anil Kumble, Venkatapathy Raju and Rajesh Chauhan’s exploits. India completed an unprecedented brownwash, winning 3-0 in Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai.
Cricket had proved to be therapeutic, buoying the masses. It had managed to bind the nation into a whole again. The balm had been applied to the open sores, obliterating bitter memories, acting as a palliative. Wadekar’s policy of continuity survived the torrid catechising Indian batsmen had been subjected to in South Africa. The trauma of bounce and Allan Donald replaced by underprepared bunsens at home. After wallowing in a bunker of mediocrity, Indian chickens had once again become tigers at home. What was crucial was the timing. The raft of victories over England and Zimbabwe came at a time when the secular status of this country was being debilitated. Its fabric torn apart.
The fires were still raging in Mumbai as Azza’s road warriors rejuvenated and revitalised a cowering nation. I was working at the Sunday Observer those days in Mumbai and lived through those trying times. My editor Pritish Nandy was smart enough to catch the mood when realising my passion for the game asked me to cover the series. I set out on the tour – Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai, as also the one off Test against Zimbabwe in Delhi. I made many friends on that tour – from English cricketers like Geoffrey Boycott, John Snow and David Gower to many English journos like Steve Whiting. That the series went well for India played its part in this revival in sentiment. Mumbai survived the two rounds of looting, arson and murder, but on March 12, 1993, its very edifice was shaken once again as serial bombs took a terrible toll on the city’s never say die spirit.
Strangely, it was England again which responded magnificently to India’s call to tour after the bloody Mumbai seige on 26/11. To England’s credit they travelled to India after winding up their one day series in double quick time to play the Test series. The headwind of terrorism had been vanquished again. Cricket helped take people’s minds off the grim reality of India having been attacked. Fortune once again was with India as Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh launched a massive fourth innings assault to win the Test match at the hastily organised venue in Chennai. Tendulkar, the champion batsman from Bandra East and then Shivaji Park and now Bandra West in Mumbai made a statement when he said that he dedicated his innings to the victims of Mumbai. Once again, cricket’s therapeutic qualities had come through. Sachin, a Mumbaikar was winning the game for his city and country.
I sincerely believe that security is an issue. I am as concerned as anyone else about security in the wake of the Lahore attack on Sri Lankan cricketers. But as Inderjit Singh Bindra said on one of the channels – one cannot compare Pakistan with India. Cut to Sachin Tendular saying that he feels completely safe in his own country. Yes, India is safe. More importantly, India needs the IPL at this particular juncture. While we have discussed the security dimensions, there is another kind of terror which is shadowing our daily lives. Economic terror. Since September 15 or ‘After Lehman’, the world’s financial system has changed dramatically. As commerce minister Kamal Nath told me the other day, USA’s financial system was in a different orbit from its economy. He said, “When the two started to converge, the wheels came off the bus. No financial system can afford to act in isolation. What has happened to the US over the last 6-8 months is a lesson for the developed world.”
The underlying weakness in the economy with exports, imports, industrial production, agricultural growth falling off the cliff needs an artificial booster shot. The 44 day IPL economy provides that impetus even if it is only for a month and a half. So, even as cricket takes our eyes off the security ball, it also manages to pump prime the economy. We need to understand that there is a micro IPL economy and this can galvanise some sort of economic activity. Airlines, hotels, transportation firms, soft drink manufacturers, security agencies et al all stand to benefit through the staging off the IPL. Gate receipts, sponsorships, broadcast revenues – a whole slew of economic activity. And above all sentiment reviver and a general feelgood catalyst.
Yes, the primacy of conducting a completely secure elections is vital. But equally a secure IPL is critical for India and its tattered economy. It is not about greed, it is about a balm, a salve, a palliative. India needs its cricket, just as it needs its politics. One should not hold the other ransom and vice versa. Let us not forget that in India they are intertwined in any case. Finally good sense has prevailed and cricket (IPL) has been allowed to take place. And with a new schedule promising a wider dispersal of the game, given that additional centres are being drafted in, India’s love affair with the game may well continue in a bigger and better manner.
Of course, the safe conduct of the tournament is paramount.
