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You don’t need to BLEED GREEN, take it easy, It’s a game !!

15-Feb-2015, it’s India vs. Pakistan in ICC Cricket World Cup, again. People across the border are waiting for this day and build up is in full swing. Commentators, anchors and sports analysts are enjoying higher degree of viewership than normal with campaigns like Bleed Blue and Bleed Green are driving people crazy on social media.

 

I am not against cricket, not at all; In fact, I rate myself as one of serious lovers of the game but what I can’t digest is depicting any win of any tournament of any sports as ‘pride and glory’ for the nation. If Pakistan loses all her matches and is unable to make it to quarterfinals or Pakistan win all her matches with sheer dominance that was exhibited by Australia in WC’03 and WC’07, what difference is it going to make to the people? How on earth a world cup win will bring ‘pride and glory’ to a nation? Pakistan won in 1992, and what difference did it make to a common man’s life? There was absolutely nothing that can be remotely connected to ‘pride and glory’ and for the same reason, I totally oppose the idea of portraying cricket, in fact, any game, as something related to status of a nation in the world.

Soccer stands tall among sports in the world as it is played by most people round the globe. If ‘pride and glory’ comes to any nation with win in international tournaments, then Brazil has to be on the top of the world today in place of USA as former is miles ahead than latter regarding trophies in FIFA World Cup tournaments.

Also Read: A Cricket Superfan’s World Cup Health Guide

Moreover, this hype of India-Pakistan match in context of ‘Bleed Green/Bleed Blue’ on 15-Feb-2015 is absolute non-sense. Whoever plays better that day will win, and that’s the end of story. There is no need to treat it as some Indo-Pak war. USA is unlucky that they don’t have proper cricket team otherwise it would have been very easy to channelize the ever-increasing anti-American sentiment among masses. Whenever there is an escalation in Drone Strikes, we can have a cricket match with USA. They kill our people and in return, we murder them with centuries. If they invade us with Abbotabad like attack, we can take their bowlers for washing via Afridi special. Salala killings can be avenged by a 3-0 victory in UAE whereas Raymond Davis can be clean bowled with middle stump uprooted by any family member of the victims of Lahore incident.

As a cricketer lover, It doesn’t look good at all that Virat Kohli, who is arguably the best ODI player (obviously, after Amla) is unarguably the most hated cricketer in Pakistan. His aggressive attitude on the field can be a point of concern but there is no question mark on his performance. Despite recent glitch in his ODI form, his stats are remarkable and should be appreciated accordingly. Shahid Afridi presents the same story from other side of border.

Also Read: India vs Pakistan: How will the “josh” of India fare against the “junoon” of Pakistan

It is quite clear that media is churning money out of such events and it is alright, after all, it is opportunity for them and subjecting whole nation to cricket fever shows up in their bank accounts. However, game of cricket shouldn’t be connected to something related to ‘pride and glory’. Nor a defeat should be regarded as humiliation and/or disgust for the nation.

It’s a game and not a matter of life and death, and it should be treated like wise. Good Luck Team Green!

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