India-Pakistan: Frenzy Peaks Ahead Of Cricket Diplomacy

All events, conferences and meetings, scheduled in the afternoon have been cancelled across Pakistan and in some offices it has been declared a half-day as nobody wants to miss Pakistan-India Cricket match, being dubbed as the “clash of titans”.

Frenzy has peaked as the over-pressurized teams of the two archrivals are preparing to face-off each other on Wednesday in Mohali in ICC Cricket World Cup match semi-final on Wednesday.

“Our team will definitely win”, is the statement, which can be heard from both sides on social media network.

However, there are moderates as well, who would like to take the match as a game not a matter of national pride.

The leadership of the two countries, in tandem, did not miss the opportunity to give peace process another chance by adopting the much-loved cricket diplomacy.

At the Indian Prime Minister’s invitation, Pakistani Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani will travel to India to witness the match.

On Monday, speaking to his cabinet, he said that he accepted the invitation in national interest. He is expected to hold one-to-one meeting with his counterpart ahead of the match and discuss matters of bilateral interest.

However, there are leaders, who are enticing the players with lucrative rewards, if they came home victorious.

The Chief Minister of Punjab province Shehbaz Sharif has offered to reward each player huge piece of land. He did not say what would await them in case of defeat. Almost all news channels, since last week, are holding special talk shows to debate the possible outcome of cricket diplomacy.

“No breakthrough is likely nor one shall be expected. However, the beauty of cricket diplomacy is that it will re-charge the peace dialogue process between the two states”, opined a political analyst, Khalid Javed.

The interesting notion is public of the two nations is hardly interested in diplomacy or politics, they are anxiously waiting for the match to be played and their teams win it.