India has made a rollicking start to the ongoing ODI World Cup by winning all its matches so far. More importantly, for Indian fans India has maintained its unblemished record against Pakistan in the ODI World Cup winning all its eight encounters so far.

But unfortunately the talking point of the match played at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad last Saturday (October 14) was not just about India’s dominant display on the field.

After all the celebrations of India’s victory died down the conversation inevitably led to the crowd’s unacceptable behaviour. The crowds in a high stakes India-Pakistan encounter tend to be highly partisan — whether the matches are played in India, Pakistan or in the neutral venues of England, Australia or South Africa. This is hardly surprising and is to be expected.

But the Ahmedabad match seemed to have gone beyond the usual partisanship with sections of the crowd aiming communal taunts at the Pakistan players. Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur could barely conceal his displeasure in the post match media interaction.

After India’s loss to Pakistan in last year’s T20 World Cup, Indian bowler Mohammad Shami, who had a forgettable match, was so viciously trolled by some Indian fans that then Indian captain Virat Kohli had to come to his support on Twitter (now X) and tick off those bigoted fans.

A match to remember

But things were not always like this. When it comes to fans’ gracious and sporting behaviour one’s mind always goes back to Chennai’s Chepauk stadium in January 1999. Batting with a bad back Sachin Tendulkar scored a marvellous 136, but still India fell agonizingly short of the target.

The fans in the packed stadium were bitterly disappointed but when the Pakistan team did a lap of honour the entire crowd put aside its disappointment and gave them a standing ovation.

This was quite easily one of the most heart-warming moments in the history of India-Pakistan encounters. Six months later the two teams clashed again in a World Cup match at Manchester. Despite the match being played in the hostile backdrop of the Kargil conflict, the fans — equal in numbers between Indians and Pakistanis — got along fine at the Old Trafford stadium and the match passed off without an untoward incident.

Sport does take place within a social and political context, so to keep politics out of it is impossible. But the fans also need put things in perspective and revel in sports’ ultimate irrelevance.