What Islamophobia? We Cheered For Afghanistan, Backed India Against Pakistan At World Cup 2023

There has been a lot of noise on social media over crowds at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad chanting Jai Shri Ram when Pakistan faced off against India on Saturday. It’s the usual, and by now done-to-death, rhetoric of spectators being ‘Islamophobic’.

What seems to have gone unnoticed by this same set of social media users is that the Afghanistan team received loud cheers from Delhi spectators when they played England on Sunday. The Afghanistan team, like Pakistan, comprises players who are devout Muslims and follow Islam. They, however, don’t wear their religion on their sleeves. The Pakistan team does, at every given opportunity, and makes no qualms about it.

The same Pakistan team still found slogans in their support in Hyderabad last week, with the crowd backing them against Sri Lanka. That was followed by a grand welcome at Ahmedabad in Gujarat when they arrived for the match against India.

So then why exactly have some on social media got their knickers in a twist and how it’s nothing but just noise with a lot of nuisance value.

Every time the DJ played the song Jai Shri Ram from the film Adipurush, the Ahmedabad crowd joined in. But they sang along and danced on every other song, too, played on loop between overs and at the fall of a wicket. (This isn’t hearsay, but a first-person account).

There were Jai Shri Ram chants from spectators when Mohammad Rizwan was heading to the pavilion. But Rizwan, of course, is allowed to flaunt his religious beliefs and that, too, on the field of play. The Pakistan wicketkeeper was caught by cameras offering namaz during drinks break in the match against Netherlands in Hyderabad. Former Pakistan cricketer Waqar Younis praised Rizwan for “offering namaz standing before Hindu crowds” and termed it “special”.

Not to forget, Rizwan dedicated his team’s win over Sri Lanka to “brothers and sisters in Gaza” after the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel killed hundreds.  Rizwan and the Pakistan team are known to mix cricket with religion. How is that acceptable? Even former Pakistan cricketer Danish Kaneria called this out in a post on X, formerly Twitter, highlighting his travails as a Hindu in the Pakistan team.

The spectators booed some Pakistani players. Babar Azam was booed at the toss and Harris Rauf when he threw the ball in frustration at Shreyas Iyer when India were batting. Those who haven’t watched too much cricket, or any other sport, will never understand the concept. It’s a form of expression in sport, just like a cheer.

The legendary Sachin Tendulkar was booed by his home crowd in Mumbai after he failed to score runs during a Test match against England in 2006. Does that mean we hate Tendulkar?

What exactly was expected at Ahmedabad? Cheers for arch-rivals in a competitive international (World Cup) cricket match, which was played to win.

Worse things have happened in Pakistan when India has toured. Indian opener Krishnamachari Srikkanth was attacked and punched by a Pakistani fan during a match in Karachi in 1989. The same match saw the crowd throw stones at Indian fielders. In 1997, Indian players were again pelted with stones by spectators in Karachi. Former India leg-spinner Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, too, recounted how as a young player he faced racist taunts from crowds in Pakistan.

And, by the way, since no one wants to highlight this on social media, there was a section of spectators who stood up and clapped when Babar reached his fifty in Ahmedabad on Saturday. They were in blue and holding the tricolour.

A cricket match against Pakistan is not just a game. It’s more than that for supporters from both sides. If one equates it with any other cricket match, the person’s just being ignorant and tone deaf.

Here’s a country that sponsors terrorism, which has claimed hundreds of lives in India in multiple terror attacks over the years. They continue to harbour some of India’s most wanted criminals. We don’t play bilateral cricket with them for these very reasons, and face-off only at multi-team tournaments. We have accorded them the best possible hospitability despite all this. What more is expected of us? Are we supposed to bend over backwards till our backs break?

It takes just a few social media posts to create a false narrative of convenience, often for political posturing and to gain attention, and what’s disturbing is that most of these social media users were not even present at the Narendra Modi Stadium to witness reality.

I, however, was. There was no Islamophobia, it was just high-intensity India versus Pakistan cricket and a lot of emotions.