ICC World Cup 2023: England versus New Zealand in Ahmedabad, a soft launch at biggest cricket stadium in the world

Not too far from those willing to pay a Rs 1 lakh to witness India play Pakistan, on the other side of the giant gates of the stadium, sat 10 captains for the pre-World Cup conference. Indian captain Rohit Sharma was asked about the pressure of playing at home, Pakistan and the elusive ICC trophy. Sat closest to the trophy, which was on display, Rohit paused, swayed his head, smiled, and even as a light laughter began to go around the room, the seemingly confident captain would say, “I know what’s at stake.”

Sitting next to Rohit was New Zealand captain Kane Williamson, who at one point was likely to miss the tournament due to an nasty knee injury he picked up in the IPL. After a remarkable recovery, though he will be missing the first match against England, the team that pipped his team the last time, he will soon start playing a role. Ironically, England which used to look down on the ODIs less than a decade back has been revived first by an Irishman Eoin Morgan, who was in attendance today in Ahmedabad, and then by Ben Stokes, who was born in New Zealand, and coached by the Kiwi Brendon McCullum.

For some reason, it’s the Kiwi-heads who seem to have cracked the ICC code; they are always in the final. Jos Buttler, however, is the England ODI captain, and he made a cautious line about every team starting equally.

All captains parroted the line about how they had to take it one game at a time. If there was any bold statement, it came from the Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi when asked by Ravi Shastri, Indian’ cricket event’s DJ for ever and a day, about how bowling is their strength. “Our spinners are good, but in this world cup our batting will make a strong statement.” Sitting next to him was Pat Cummins, one of the two clean-shaven captains along with Buttler amidst a beard-feast all around them; he turned and nodded his head at the Afghan.

There was also a gentle remark that Pakistan’s Babar Azam managed to slip in along with the homilies that triggered knowing nods in the room. Shastri again with a question about how the Hyderabadi people have been showering the team with their hospitality, and Babar thanked the people before adding, “it would have been nice to have Pakistani people in the stands”. The Visa issue has still proved unresolvable as yet.

Politics and cricket go hand in hand at this venue. It’s where Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah first wet their feet in cricket administration, with the Gujarat Cricket Association, reshaping an erstwhile-ravine-land-turned-to-stadium into the world’s most populated cricket arena. Shah’s son, Jay, is the powerful BCCI secretary and face of India’s cricket administration. There is a buzz among the officials that the ‘Sahib’ might come for the first game. No one is willing to say anything more as no one knows for sure. “For sure, he will come for the India-Pakistan match,” says an official who doesn’t want to be named.

Unlike Modi, cricket was a source of pain for Gandhi in some ways. Just before the independence, he would launch a passionate plea to the countrymen to stop the “communal” Pentangular tournament, that was played along religious lines between teams of Hindus, Muslims, Parsis and a team of Rest following other faiths.

“I would like the public of Bombay to revise their sporting code and erase from it communal matches. I can understand matches between colleges and institutions, but I never understood the reasons for having Hindu, Parsi, Muslim and other communal Elevens. I should have thought that such unsportsmanlike divisions would be considered taboos in sporting language and sporting manners,” wrote Gandhi. “Can we not have some field of life which cannot be touched by the communal spirit?”

The tournament would soon be disbanded after Bapu’s request. Those were different times.

Back at the Ashram, a group of middle-aged women from Telangana are gasping and giggling; as they part, it emerges that they were staring at the photo of some of the actual postcards that Gandhi received. The reason for their gasp is on the postcard address – Mahatma Gandhi, New Delhi. Undoubtedly, they all reached the most famous man in India.

Gandhi ashram has history, humour, tragedy, pain, historical events, trivia strewn around every pillar. (Express photo)

It’s a tastefully maintained ashram. It has history, humour, tragedy, pain, historical events, trivia strewn around every pillar. Like his letter to Hitler, that starts with ”My friend”, is a plea to stop the war. Though not at the Ashram, there is credible historical reference of Gandhi indulging cricket. Ramachandra Guha, the foremost Gandhi scholar of our times, wrote about the occasion when Laxmi Merchant, the sister of Vijay Merchant, India’s most famous opener before Sunil Gavaskar, sought Gandhi’s autograph. Gandhi supposedly trawled through Laxmi’s book, stopped at a page with the 1933-34 MCC team that toured India and was led by Douglas Jardine, of the bodyline fame. Gandhi scrolled down, added an extra member to the 16-men squad: “17. M.K. Gandhi”.

While cricket is in the pink of health in these parts, the ODI format faces an identity crisis. One-day cricket’s younger brother, T20 format, is furiously kicking a charming fuss around the world with mushrooming leagues. No one anywhere has started a 50-over league. Befittingly, India, whose 1983 triumph kickstarted an insatiable appetite for the 50-over format, would be voting on its future over the next two months: will the fans turn out in huge numbers even for the non-India matches? Rohit was sure they would.