Dubai, United Arab Emirates – When cricketers from India and Pakistan step onto the field for their Asia Cup 2025 match on Sunday, a lot more than two points will be on the line, according to cricket fans and experts.
The match at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium will be played under the cloud of lingering hostility after their intense four-day conflict in May.
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While an all-out war between the two cross-border nations was prevented after an internationally brokered ceasefire, a sense of bitterness remains.
“People in India have been very angry about the match ever since this fixture was confirmed,” Kudip Lal, an Indian cricket writer, told Al Jazeera.
“They feel that it’s not right to play this match while the overall relationship between both countries is so strained,” he explained.
“It’s the worst time for an India-Pakistan match.”
‘Why play cricket in the aftermath of war?’
Lal said that fans in India see the fixture as a money-making avenue for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), whom they blame for trying to cash in on the profit generated by these high-profile clashes.
Lal believes the BCCI, widely regarded as the most wealthy and powerful cricket board in the world, could have “easily skipped” the match.
“If the Indian government has stopped issuing visas to Pakistanis, if the diplomatic ties are suspended and Pakistanis visiting India have been sent back, then why have the cricketers been asked to play this match in the aftermath of a war?” Lal questioned.
He expressed fears of a backlash in case India lose the Group A fixture.
Whenever India and Pakistan play, emotions run high and a loss is not taken well by fans on either side of the border.
In the past decades, players’ homes have been torched, their family members have been threatened, and effigy-burning protests have been carried out on the streets.
The current political climate between India and Pakistan is worse than it has been in several decades.
Shared laughs and ‘bromance’ of the past
Despite the political deadlock between the nuclear-armed neighbours, the recent on-and-off-field exchanges between players have been fairly cheerful.
When India last played Pakistan in the Asia Cup in September 2023, the two key talking points were Virat Kohli’s utter dominance of Pakistani bowlers and the countless feel-good moments shared between both teams.
The match was played in the middle of the monsoon season in Sri Lanka, where fans cheered for both teams regardless of their allegiances and danced away their worries during the countless rain delays.
Pakistani fans were seen declaring their nation’s love for Kohli, and the festive atmosphere spilled over onto the pitch.
There were memorable player-to-player exchanges that were plucked right out of a social media manager’s dream.
Pakistan’s Shaheen Shah Afridi swapped his on-field aggression for off-field warmth as he handed India’s Jasprit Bumrah a gift hamper for his newborn son. Cue millions of retweets and shares on X and Instagram.
Social media was also flooded with reels highlighting the “bromance” between Kohli and Pakistan allrounder Shadab Khan.
This time, however, experts do not foresee similar public displays of goodwill and friendliness.
“The friendship and warmth seen in the past will not be on display because anything can be blown out of proportion by impassioned fans, and the smallest move can agitate the public,” Sami Ul Hasan, former head of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) media and communications department, said ahead of the match.
When Pakistan beat India by 10 wickets at the ICC T20 World Cup 2021, Pakistan’s captain Babar Azam and wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan were warmly embraced by Kohli, and all three shared a hearty laugh while walking off the pitch.
“We can’t expect similar scenes to unfold on Sunday,” Hasan said.
“The interpretation and optics of an overtly friendly encounter could go very wrong, and things could blow up on either side of the border.”
Mixing cricket with politics
Hasan, who has worked with cricketers and cricket officials, said the players will attempt to bat away political questions by saying they are not meant to deal with political matters.
“Sports and politics can never be separated, but athletes aren’t politicians, so they can’t be expected to act like diplomats.”
Despite the heated atmosphere and tense build-up to the fixture, some fans believe the match can still be seen as just another India-Pakistan match.
“Politics shouldn’t be mixed with cricket, which has always helped ease the tensions, so why should it be used as an avenue to propagate politics?” Asad Khan, a Pakistani fan, said.
“When you bring political agendas into cricket, it ruins the game and causes unnecessary stress for the players.”
Khan urged fans to put aside the politically and religiously motivated chants at cricket stadiums and instead enjoy a now-rare India-Pakistan match.
Given the years-long halt in bilateral cricket series between India and Pakistan, their fixtures are limited to multination tournaments.
Cricket fans are hopeful that both teams will not give in to the politically-charged atmosphere and help lighten the mood.
“The players should do their jobs as cricketers and the fans should treat it as just another game,” Ali, a Pakistan fan, said, told Al Jazeera in Dubai.
“Why must the cricketers worry about what happened on the border four months ago,” Ali
But cricket expert Lal believes otherwise.
“When the two teams enter the field on Sunday, they can’t be expected to be completely detached from the conflict. It will play on their minds.”
A hot and humid September evening in Dubai cannot be blamed solely for turning the “Ring of Fire” stadium into a cauldron.
Come Sunday, the latest chapter in a decades-long bitter rivalry will have the players and fans on the edge.
