Winning streaks in sports do not end gradually. They stay for days, months, years, decades, until that one moment when it snaps.
Until this week, India never lost to Pakistan in Senior Men's World Cup matches. The record used to be 12-0. Now it stands 12-1.
'If you are proud of the fact that we won 11-0 then there is another reality that we will lose at some point in time, said M.S. Dhoni before the India-Pakistan game in 2016 World Cup 2016.
A professor of statistics would have told you the same, albeit using different words.
The number still weighs disproportionately in favour of India. They still retain the bragging rights. But now the trumpets of having never lost in World Cup – a slightly bizarre statistic, for India have lost to Pakistan in the Champions Trophy – will never be blown. And that is fine, for in sports, there is little scope for permanence in the long run.
But the India-Pakistan rivalry was never about sports alone. The rivalry has always stretched beyond the boundaries of the field. The cricketing action has often taken back seat.
Losing to Pakistan is almost akin to a sin to the Indian cricket fraternity. They often find it unfathomable that their team ended up losing to Pakistan. That too in a competition where they had never lost.
At this point, common sense withers away. A sense of denial creeps in.
Sports has always been presented as the most democratic, most meritocratic field, where difference in race and class and caste and religion gets buried once you take field. For two young nations still obsessed with each other beyond imagination, cricket has emerged as the most important social indicator of their post-partition progress.
For in cricket, and indeed, any sport, victories and defeats are defined by cold numbers. Unlike in life, where they are vague, subjective concepts.
The cricketing battles last a few hours, but after-effect continues for days. Winning evokes euphoria in masses, losing lays bare the worst of our collective traits. The simple fact that one team has been outperformed by another becomes too hard to digest. As defence mechanism, the mob begins to hunt for a scapegoat. They often settle on a person of a vulnerable groups to vent out their frustration.
Make no mistake. This is not restricted to cricket, or India, anymore. It is a global phenomenon.
When Germany performed poorly in the 2018 World Cup, Mesut Ozil and İlkay Gündoğan, two players of Turkish descent, were singled out and berated.
When India lost to Pakistan, Mohammed Shami bore the brunt.
The choicest of religiously motivated slangs were hurled on the only Muslim cricketer who was a part of the playing XI.
The madness did not end there. The social media jibes at Shami were followed by arrests for voicing support for a sporting team. Harbhajan Singh and Mohammad Amir, cricketers with numerous followers, indulged in an avoidable social media fight. Waqar Younis, no less, left a remark on a religious ritual – though he later apologised.
The hate and bigotry that goes into the making of this rivalry have not helped. The language has merely echoed a broader, more depressing social reality of both nations. The wounds of partition are yet to heal completely, as both nations remain touchy on the topics of religion and nationalism.
And sporting action between these two nations are always seen as war, and athletes as weapons.
Amidst all the brouhaha, the real cricket that happens between the 22 yards gets lost. Shaheen Shah Afridi bowled an astonishing spell, Rishabh Pant batted beautifully, and Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan put up an outstanding display of batting prowess. But these things were reduced to side notes.
Remember when Virat Kohli congratulated Babar and Rizwan just after the game was lost? It remained an endearing gesture that was eventually drowned after the force of hatred and toxicity that followed. At this point, it is compelling to ask whether the world really need more of this rivalry.
What is the point if the game itself gets lost amidst an ocean of different voices, different narratives, different agendas?