We grew up with the comforting thought that cricket was a gentleman's game. But gentlemen do shake hands, don't they?
Business rivals finalize a deal after weeks of tough negotiations, but manage a handshake in the end. Politicians smile and shake hands for the cameras, after exchanging 'pleasantries' in a debate. Cricketers from Australia, New Zealand, England, South Africa, West Indies, line up and shake hands after 5 long days of sledging and staring. They don't need diplomatic clearance or policy briefing to do so. A handshake is a natural act of respect and civility towards each other.
Suddenly, in certain contests in our part of the world, a simple sportsmanly act of a handshake has turned into a topic of national intrigue. Will they, won't they?
If SKY smiled at his rival captain, how broad was his smile? Was it warm or cold? Why did Rohit Sharma hug Wasim Akram? Did the hug or smile make a geopolitical statement? Or is it likely to trigger the respective envoys to issue a note verbale?
In the eighties and nineties, the Pakistani legends like Saeed Anwar, Aamir Sohail, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younus, Javed Miandad and Shoaib Akhtar, struck fear in the hearts of opponents. Yet the battle was fought between the two ends of 22 yards and within the boundary ropes. When they stepped out, they were human beings. There were no hashtags, no memes and no mockery on social media when either team lost.
Today when Babar Azam fails, he is on public trial. His greatness and records are forgotten. When Salman Ali Agha speaks at a press conference in his second language, his accent is ridiculed. The content of what he said is lost in the mockery of how he said it. Sport is a test of skill and grit. It is not meant to be a stage for linguistic elitism. Since when did eloquence in English become a yardstick for cricketing proficiency?
When the players walk into the field, flexing their muscles and swinging their bats, they carry on those young shoulders, the expectations of a nation, scrutiny of their form, pressure of national pride, uncertainty of selection, fitness, personal problems, mental fatigue and what not!. The weight of all these factors are of a scale that many of us cannot perceive, let alone experience.
In January 1999, India suffered a heartbreaking 12 run loss to Pakistan in a test match at Chepauk, Chennai, despite a heroic century by Sachin Tendulkar. Yet the spectators gave the Pakistani cricketers a standing ovation on their victory lap. That was a shining example of sportsmanship.
Loss in a sporting encounter is not a disaster. Every great team has lost and every great player has failed. Loss of empathy and dignity is a disaster.
Cricket will survive. We hope stories will be written about the cheering fans in the stands, and the bonhomie between rival players after a gentle handshake.
Auction rooms and television rights maybe inevitable as the world moves on, but cricket will remain beautiful and worthy of its epithet, " the gentleman's game" only if old values return.
Latha Raghuram.