Cricket World Cup 2023 | Reflections beyond the field
The 2023 edition of Cricket World Cup has showcased the very best of cricket in one day, combining the unique Indian passion for cricket with the national pride of all competing nations creating an unrivaled global sporting occasion that captured the imagination of fans from across the world.
According to ICC Chair Greg Barclay: We are delighted with the success of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, which has been the biggest Cricket World Cup ever. The event has been the most attended ICC World Cup ever with records shattered across broadcast and digital showcasing the support and interest for the one-day game.
Reflection 1st :
India’s prowess in hosting global events like the Cricket World Cup and G20 defines India’s new position globally.
India's connection with cricket goes beyond just being a sport; for many, it's akin to a religion. When the streets go empty during crucial matches and children mimic their favorite cricketing stars in gullies, it's a testament to the nation's fervent passion. Hosting the World Cup only intensifies this bond. Holding this event amplifies India's position on the global stage. In essence, hosting the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup is more than just organizing matches; it's about celebrating the spirit of cricket, showcasing India's prowess, and embracing the myriad opportunities it brings.
Similarly, India’s G20 presidency can be regarded as a historic moment, announcing its confirmation as a major global player, an event every bit as significant as China’s 2008 Olympics.
While India is set to again be the fastest-growing economy in the world, Pakistan is on the brink of economic collapse. India’s strength is in its control over inflation, minimal external debt, robust and growing forex reserves, and incrementally improving geopolitical goodwill. In contrast, Pakistan is battling spiraling inflation, GDP growth coming to a grinding halt, crushing debt, and evaporating forex reserves, topped by internal unrest and international tightening.
Wheat flour is barely available. Kids stand in line for days to get one sack of aata (Wheat flour), and that too is expensive. People used to eat three times, but now, we eat only one meal. They cook it once and eat it thrice. Even children are getting desparate. This is the situation of millions working class people.
As a Kashmiri, we still enjoy Rs. 200 per chicken, and the same Kashmiri on the other side of LOC battles per chicken @ Rs. 1800/kg. The economic crisis and strife are full of agonies and miseries of pain on a day-to-day basis for the common man in a country with more than 20 crore population.
Pakistan's weekly inflation has surged above 40% and citizens are finding it difficult to cover the most necessities like food and education. To tackle the situation, people claim that they are ‘eating less’ and ‘traveling less’ to survive on a day-to-day basis.
In contrast, The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) in India was launched in April 2020 with the specific purpose of ameliorating the hardships faced by the poor and needy due to economic disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. The extension of the PMGKAY, which was set to expire in December, has been approved for five years to benefit 80 crore underprivileged families in the country.
India’s ease of living and development indices relatively are much better today than the neighboring countries, especially ones that had led a large segment of people astray. As such, we must thank history for aligning with the right part of the subcontinent. If the crisis and struggle in the neighboring country’s common man's day-to-day life do not open the door and gates of our consciousness and thank our ancestors for the right choice, only God can save us. It is time to be rational, realistic, and pragmatic and be grateful for all the good the present and future behold for our generations to come with a country that has always walked the talk and left no stone unturned to develop heaven back to its pristine glory. It is time for us to collectively reciprocate back as a Kashmiri Qoum and not be mere fence sitters and positively engage in the peace, development, and growth efforts by the GOI and UT Govt.
Lesson 2nd:
The rivalry between Pakistan and Afghanistan on the cricket field and its effect out of the field was the best highlight of the World Cup.
Why the Afghanistan-Pakistan rivalry is becoming bigger than India-Pakistan at the ODI World Cup is a big question for cricket fans and political analysts across the sub-continent. The historic night for Afghanistan was the night of the 23rd of Oct., as they recorded their first-ever win against Pakistan in men's ODIs. The growing enmity across the Durand line is a classical failure of foreign policy particularly the Afghanistan policy of Pakistan.
Any historian would likely begin the political history of the two countries with the drawing of the 2,670-kilometre Durand Line by the British in 1893, which later became the international land border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. People on either side of the Durand Line have more in common with each other than with some people within their own country. It has divided people who were Pashtun well before they were Afghans or Pakistani. But why are Afghans so passionate about beating Pakistan on the cricket field? The answer to this question could perhaps be traced to Islamabad’s involvement in different capacities during the last 40-plus years in the country.
Pakistan never tried to revisit much-coveted state policy while the world moved on. It loved to live in the past and in denial mode. Division of Pakistan in its east wing in the shape of Bangladesh in 1971, barely 25 years after its creation, was a glaring failure of the belief that Islam could be the uniting factor, politically. Every Muslim nation is guided by its national ethos, civilization, values, and interests and is progressing ahead while Pakistan is struck by the cobwebs of fundamentalism created by it.
Why is it important to discuss this at this point? It has relevance and significance with far-reaching consequences. It has deep psycho-sociological relevance in the larger perspective of the genesis of the conflict and its ramifications. It is time we the Kashmiris shall necessarily let our new and current generations choose their dreams, aspirations, choices, preferences, and favorites in sports and teams as per their understanding and environment. Let's not impose our social upbringing and shortcomings and lunatic choices on them.
According to Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson, leading psychologists of the twentieth century, as they dive deeper into biopsychosocial development and how socio-environmental factors affect human development, attitude, belief, values, inclination, outlook, and discourse at a larger level. Erikson nature of personality development as it unfolds from birth through old age or death. He argued that the social experience is valuable throughout our life to each stage that can be recognizable by a conflict specifically as we encounter the psychological needs and the surroundings of the social environment.
Demographically generations are categorised as Generation X – born 1965-1979, Millennials – born 1980-1994, Generation Z– born 1995-2012, and Gen Alpha– born 2013– 2025. Generation X and Millennials of Kashmiri have suffered badly due to the tragic and violent atmosphere as they socialized and grew up; where the complex harsh realities of an armed conflict and its tentacles have spread all over the social culture milieu. As such, the result is before all of us, as we have bearing the brunt collectively from last so many decades. It is well established that fact all conflicts and disputes have their social dynamics. As such, the sociological research and sociological dimension of conflicts in which it rises cannot be ignored.
It has to be our collective responsibility to let the Gen-Z and Gen-Alpha choose their liking and dis-likening whether sports or another pursuit. They have every right to follow players like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli like the Gen-X had followed Syed Anwar and Amir Sohail. Let the new generation cherish their ideals and values, without any prejudice and bias of Generation X and millennials due to their own upbringing and socialization. If we are collectively successful in letting the new generation live their own reality and not haunt them with our own, we will find lasting peace and solutions at least at the Socio-psychological levels.
All integrations start with physical integration but are only successful if they are followed by intellectual and finally emotional integration for lasting peace and development for the generations to come.
BY DR M M HUSSAIN
Dr M M Hussain, Freelance Journalist
