Itøs not cricket

IN Opinion | 05/04/2006

FROM THE STANDS

S R Khelkoodkar

Whenever India plays Pakistan most people stop whatever they`re doing to watch. Naturally, cricket attracts the most attention, and that is probably the sport where the contest is the most even. But Indian journalists get transfixed by anything Pakistani.

Hockey used to draw big crowds and a great deal of coverage, but a combination of serious internal troubles in the Indian hockey camp and a series of poor performances by the team - especially against Pakistan - has meant that nobody really cares too much anymore.

Next on the India-Pakistan sports agenda, however, is tennis, with the Davis Cup tie between the two countries set to begin from Friday. In this case, though, there is no real past record to compare with, since the last time the two countries played at this level was about 33 years ago, when India won 4-0. And there have been only four meetings before that.

Not just this, the two teams largely comprise young players with little experience, who don`t have much of a past record either. Our journos, therefore, have had precious little to talk about in the lead-up to the contest. Not surprisingly, then, there has been little that has been talked about.

Most articles have dealt with the Pakistani team, and almost all of those have been interviews. In demand, particularly, have been Pakistani Davis Cup Captain Rasheed Malik, and team spearhead Aisam-ul-Haq Qureishi.

Malik has made all the right noises. In a PTI interview that appeared in the Hindustan Times, he says:

"History is against us in this historic tie and frankly speaking we would be starting love-one down because of the champion Indian pair of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi.
"But whenever and whichever sport you play against India, the motivation and zest for glory is there. We will be travelling to India with an aim to scale the mountain this time."

Qureishi has echoed these sentiments. In a PTI story in the Telegraph, however, he gives Pakistan a chance in this contest. "We start 0-1 down in the match but I don`t think Leander Paes and Muhesh Bhupathi will play in the singles which gives us an opportunity to put the pressure on Prakash [Amritraj] and Rohan [Bopanna]. "They are relatively inexperienced at this level although their world ranking is far above ours."

The article then duly reports their world rankings and recent performances.

Bopanna is world No.232, but has played 10 Davis Cup matches and had lost eight of them. Amritraj has a world ranking of 229 but has won just four of 12 Davis Cup matches so far. On the contrary, Qureishi has played 45 Davis Cup matches since making his debut in 1998, losing 14 and winning 31, whereas Aqeel Khan has an experience of 42 Davis Cup matches with 18 wins and 24 losses.

In terms of experience, then, at least in singles, Pakistan looks to have the advantage.

The Times of India, too, carries a rather lengthy interview with Qureishi, and an `exclusive` one at that. The Hindu seems to have ignored the tie completely.The only real coverage that the Indian team has received is in the form of some Times of India bad news. Mahesh Bhupathi, it seems, has a hamstring injury in his left leg, although he expects to recover in time for the doubles fixture.

According to the article - indeed, borne out by its lack of mention anywhere else - there was no announcement of any such injury when the Indian team held its press conference.

A shame, for such an announcement would have at least attracted a little more coverage in the build-up to the tennis.

contact: khelkoodkar@gmail.com