The Cricket World Cup 2024 has generated a multileveled countrywide critical debate in Pakistan with the defeat of the Pakistan cricket team in a match with the USA. International cricket fans have marked the Super-Over victory of the USA in the ICC Men T20 World Cup 2024 as a significant event in cricket history due to this victory and the American hosting of the T20 cricket tournament.
It has sent a message to the world that American citizens could perform well beyond their traditional associations with sports like baseball, basketball, soccer, and American football. Now, it is clear to international cricket fans that the USA is prepared to improve its potential in the world of the ICC. This is similar to considering cricket as an important instrument of sports diplomacy. In the case of Pakistan, the leaders of the two nations have accepted cricket as a new way of improving cultural ties with other nations at the bilateral level.
As confirmed by the Washington-based diplomatic community of Pakistan in a formal congratulatory remark to the US on the cricket victory, the Ambassador of Pakistan to the US, Masood Khan, acknowledged the significance of sports in promoting diverse cultural and diplomatic ties between states. This message has validated the growing values of sports diplomacy between Washington and Islamabad and its increasing space in the historical cooperative ties of the two nations. It can be measured in an analogous message of Islamabad-based US diplomatic officials. Before leaving for the World Cup T20, the Pakistan cricket team attended a meet-up hosted by the US embassy in Islamabad where Ambassador Donald Blome welcomed the team members and wished them for the upcoming matches in the USA. This meet-and-greet event showed the determination of the US diplomatic community to increase its sports diplomacy in Pakistan parallel to supporting the cultural ties between Washington and Islamabad. In this way, the intentions of the two sides in their cricket-related remarks were an attempt to support the smooth growth of their bilateral diplomatic communication, which could have been more effective in meeting the desired outcomes at the societal level.
American victory in a cricket match became a matter of public concern in Pakistan due to the are and unpopular history of cricket in the USA, whereas the historical affiliations of Pakistani society with the cricket passion are undeniable. It was an upsetting moment for Pakistani society, which has a greater level of cricket obsession and passionate feelings about cricket matches between Pakistan and India, and now with the USA as well.
The love of cricket has become an undeniable part of the country’s social landscape. The social and cultural fabric of the country has witnessed cricket as one of the few unifying forces in Pakistani society, and its consolidated public support to the nation’s pride and unity beyond ethnic, ideological, and cultural social divisions.
A brief overview of Pakistan’s cricket history and the increasing inclination of its sportsmen into politics has further sensitized the public love of cricket. Pakistan’s cricket history has shown that the country’s common culture has been integrated with the performance of the Pakistan cricket team in international tournaments. The love of cricket has penetrated the young generations, and the aspiration to join the national team has become a common passion among youth. This situation has resulted in the creation of various cricket clubs and school and street cricket teams across the country.
School- and university-level cricket teams have become an essential part of their extra-curricular activities under the broader concept of supporting physical fitness activities in the youth. In Pakistani education institutions, it is widely believed that participation in sports teams instills a sense of teamwork in young people. In short, the country has several societal and cultural attributes related to cricket, and respect for cricket’s victory has been associated with a sense of national pride and societal unity. The question of cricket victory has been recognized widely by all segments of Pakistani society as a symbol of national image worldwide.
There is no harm in saying that the cricket diplomacy between Islamabad and Washington could serve both states’ greater interests, which could ultimately support their bilateral vision of economic cooperation and an enhanced framework of people-to-people contacts.
In this way, international cricket tournaments generally, and Pakistan-India matches specifically, have become common celebrations in Pakistan, which often witnessed mass public gatherings and festivity arrangements across the country. Akin to Pakistan’s reputation attached to the India-Pakistan match, the match with the USA followed similar trends in which the general public was more concerned with the cricket team’s performance instead of considering sports as an instrument of diplomatic cooperation between nations.
The match between both states was an appreciable development, enabling them to diversify their bilateral cooperative bonds. However, the reaction of Pakistani society has made it a matter of the nation’s prestige among the cricketing nations. The defeat in the match augmented the existing patterns of anti-Americanism in Pakistani society.\
Without understanding Pakistan’s cricketing strength cemented in the greater values of the soft image in playing a match with the United States, the general public translated victory as a serious public concern. Thus, it is appropriate to maintain that cricket generates a sense of unity and patriotism in public when the cricket team performs well and secures victory, contrasting to the defeats that offended the general public and let them develop various conspires cemented in illogical explanations with irrational arguments in Pakistan.
In this way, the governments of both nations need to realize the expanding wave of anti-US sentiments in Pakistan, which has led the general public to examine various joint Pakistan-US cooperative efforts critically. Regarding cricket diplomacy, the cricket-playing nation Pakistan must promote the positive image of cricket matches and tournaments in the society where public support for sports holds substantial potential for improving the conventional framework of Islamabad’s foreign relations with other nations.
In the case of Pakistan-US relations, promoting positive visualizations of sports competition between Islamabad and Washington in public could empower Pakistan’s government to expand its cultural ties with the US through developing mutual understanding at the political level. In this way, a shared vision of cricket diplomacy between two states will become an appropriate opportunity for improving bilateral relations while considering it a powerful diplomatic tool to bridge existing societal differences.
There is no harm in saying that the cricket diplomacy between Islamabad and Washington could serve both states’ greater interests, which could ultimately support their bilateral vision of economic cooperation and an enhanced framework of people-to-people contacts.
