India and Australia – cricket as a relational metaphor

Cricket, it wouldn?t be wrong to suggest, was and is, the true national game in both India and Australia. This is precisely because it could be played against the English as part of the great imperial project. Hockey in India or Aussie Rules in Australia could not, and hence their legacies, like their origins, remain very curious in the sporting hierarchies of the two countries. It is important to answer, Why cricket and not hockey in India? Answers lie in the George Orwell axiom, ?Serious sport is war minus the shooting.? If sport is in fact a metaphor (and in some cases a metonym) for war, then cricket simply was the necessity in India. Prowess in sport wasn?t enough.

Accomplishments had to be demonstrated in empire sport, which would mark a symbolic victory against the ruling colonial state. To substantiate the point: even when India won gold medals in field hockey in the Olympic Games in the years 1928-1956, hockey could never rival cricket in colonial India. This is because Britain refused to participate in Olympic hockey contests in the years 1928-1936, knowing that the Indians were favourites to win the gold. This is especially interesting because Britain had won the Olympic gold in field hockey in 1904 and 1920, the only years when hockey was played before 1928 and years when India did not participate. Absence of competitions against the coloniser, it can be argued, relegated hockey in the Indian sporting hierarchy.

Speaking to the press at New Delhi on 8 June 2005, the former Australian Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer stated: ?I think Australia and India, which have a long historic relationship, can build on some of the history of our relationship. Now?our two countries love cricket and the Foreign Minister, Pranab Mukherjee and I both love cricket. So, we spent a good deal of time over the lunch talking about our respective cricket teams and their prospects. We think that what we should do between us, between Australia and India, is to have a touring exhibition of Sir Donald Bradman?s memorabilia here in India. And we think that this exhibition, which should be jointly supported by Australia and India, would be very popular and this exhibition of Bradman memorabilia would go to major centres in India ? New Delhi, Calcutta, Bombay, Chennai and so on.? This announcement appears intriguing because Bradman, all through his life, had ?declined? opportunities to undertake an extensive visit to India. However, Bradman continues to be revered in the sub-continent, a fact of life Downer seemed to be cashing in on.

The Bradman aura was most evident to me in June 2005 while visiting a severely injured friend at his Calcutta home. Subir Mitra, Managing Director of the well-known Bengali publishing company, Ananda Publishers, was bandaged all over, with pain and agony, written large on his face. Yet he did not want me to leave without seeing something extraordinarily important. This was a piece of paper bearing Bradman?s signature, one of Mitra?s treasured possessions. Interestingly, Mitra is no exception because Bradman, to millions of Indian cricket followers, is no less than a deity.

From the very start, cricket has been a vehicle for both Australia and India to express national achievement. Even when bilateral relations were at a low ebb between 1950 and 1970, cricket was seen as the natural cultural bridge between the two nations. Yet, this was a rather uneasy phase of cricket relations, with Australian teams unwillingly going to the subcontinent and Indian teams barely supported down under because of their poor playing abilities (indeed only one Indian team toured Australia during this period ? 1967/68). In fact, this period of tension in sport parallels the Australian Government?s neglect of India. With Australia continuing to view India from an Australian/Western Cold War stance until the early 1970s, there was no incentive for Australian cricketers like Bradman through Benaud to the Chappells to perceive a sub-continent tour as special. Even when personal friendships flourished between players such as Bradman and Hazare, and individual players earned popularity like Bedi in Australia and Benaud in India, they did little to promote deeper social and political exchanges between the countries.

Matters changed substantially under the Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam (1972-75) whose enlightened attitude towards India, and Asia generally, helped create Australian attitudes capable of more independent foreign policy formation, influenced more by regional factors than by the imperatives of its traditional Western alliance. This was helped by the enthusiastic response to Whitlam by the equally independent Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi. Improved political relations impacted upon cricket as well as allowing Australia?s more structured economy to harness the economic worth of cricket in India.

This transformation has only been cemented in the years since. For example, India?s tour of Australia in 2003-04 assumed tremendous significance back home, interest stimulated by the spectacular individual performances by the Indians in the Test series. Even bigger was India?s tour down under in December-January 2007-08. This tour affected the normal schedule of middle class urban households and created a severe problem for cricket-crazy children and teenagers since most of the annual school examinations ICSE and CBSE were round the corner. But for most teenagers, India?s performance ?down-under? was an experience to cherish and most tried to become involved in the excitement by selectively viewing India?s matches.

The growing significance of Indo-Australian cricket has had a perceptible impact on tourism ?down-under? as well. In the wake of India?s series in 2004, no less than 3,000 Indians arrived in Australia to cheer their team, a first for Indian sport.

In 2007-8, this figure increased further with the Indians under Dhoni winning the one-day series. With live television bringing the action to the comfort of Indian drawing rooms, Australia suddenly became an attractive tourist destination as well as a trading partner. Thus, it is no surprise to know that bilateral trade between India and Australia during the calendar year 2004-5 touched a record A$ 6.54 billion. This saw a sharp increase in the value of total trade of nearly 52% or A$ 2.23 billion over the corresponding figure of A$ 4.31 billion in 2003. These figures, one can confidently assert, will only increase during the current tour as well, which has already been billed in India as ?The Fight of Their Lives?. With a growing history adding gloss to this rivalry, with time this label might well prove true.