In a shade over the next 6 hours, India and Pakistan will square off against each other in the latest edition of the cricket World Cup. 

When most of my friends in the US would be going to bed after a long night of hitting the bars and clubs on a Saturday night, I will be waking up to numerous alarms to watch these two behemoths take on each other. 

Cricket in the Indian subcontinent isn’t a sport, it’s a religion. It’s a religion in a secular nation that not just unites all of us but also breaks down social inequalities like caste, creed, race, gender and other socioeconomic barriers that divide us every day. Cricket unites us like nothing else has ever had and probably never will. It is true that if Sachin Tendulkar, the greatest cricketer ever (revered and often referred to as the God of Cricket) ran for president, he would probably record a landslide victory. We do not idolize our cricketers, we hero worship them.

An India vs Pakistan world cup match is the epitome of a cricket encounter. Tickets sell out months in advance notwithstanding which country or continent the venue is located, most people take the day off, the GDP of both countries probably suffer and of course productivity and efficiency – if you are unlucky enough to be working – go for a toss. 

Ask any cricket fan and they will pay a premium to watch this match. I miss the euphoria back home. The way you’d talk about it for days and weeks in advance, how my ex girl friend and I were so excited to watch it together in 2015, how random strangers hug each other at the fall of every wicket, cheer every single run and each play and how the whole household, friends and neighbours get together for this one big party. People on both sides of the border feverishly discuss stats, strategies, turning points, batting and bowling orders, and various other nitty-gritties of the game for months leading on to this heightened crescendo which develops an atmosphere which can only be lived and not explained.

None of my friends in Houston will ever understand why it is not okay for me to wake up at 4am for a workout but it is perfectly fine for someone who swears to not be a morning person to drag himself to the couch so that he can watch this battle royale. There are things that I can try to explain and then there are a lot other which no one can ever put down in words. For perspective, back in March 2011, I went into work at 2:30 a.m. (IST) so that I could leave work at 11:30 a.m. (IST) to watch India play Pakistan at a sports bar with my friends (the picture above is of a 8 year younger me after the victory). It was one of the busiest times of the year at work but the Partner was extremely flexible and told me that if I could get my work done I could absolutely go watch the game.

Consider this, it won’t just be a few thousands watching this match. It will be a billion people for whom nothing else will hold any importance during the game. It will be one of the largest tv viewership for any sporting event this year, maybe second only to the Champions League finals earlier this year. By comparison, it is an audience approximately ten times more than that views the Super Bowl, 60 times more than the number of people who watched the Toronto Raptors win the NBA finals versus the Golden State Warriors. It is not a game, it is war. Speaking of wars, the two nations have fought three wars already since Cyril John Radcliffe in 1947 divided India into India and Pakistan. Between the two countries, we hold 3 world cups and have played each other 6 times in the world cup in 4 different continents (cricket world cups are like soccer world cups – they are organized once every 4 years). I have watched every cricket world cup match between India and Pakistan starting in 1992 when I was a 6-year-old and the last edition in 2015 when I still lived in India. It just won’t feel the same in Houston.

  • Sachin Tendulkar, the master blaster!
  • India lifting the 2011 world cup

Back home, it will be a festival like no other even though the teams are playing at the Old Trafford Cricket Ground in Manchester, England (rings a bell for my football/soccer loving friends?). Shopping malls will be empty, sports bars will be full, temperatures will be high (given that India is experiencing heat waves and some parts of the country have recorded temperatures above 120 degree Fahrenheit), traffic will be lighter, everyone will be glued to their television sets, tempers will fray, bets will be placed, crying babies and commercial breaks will be cursed at, non-cricket fans will be upset, Tinder dates will be ghosted, and hopefully Jon will be able to get some time off to pet Ghost as they will be forgotten just like the Starbucks coffee cup.

I will not delve into the various economic reasons why cricketing nations, host countries and the ICC (International Cricket Council) want India and Pakistan play each other nor will I get into the social, religious, and various other aspects which lend to the significance of this match. Approximately 14,500 kilometres (9,000 miles) away, I will watch every ball bowled and cheer till my throat hurts. India has never lost a world cup match against Pakistan in the 44-year-old history of the tournament. One day we will lose however for now, “What do we tell the God of Defeat?” “Not this world cup.” BLEED BLUE!!!!