Don't mix cricket and politics

Sushant Sareen, who works with the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses in New Delhi, writes in Tehelka that Indo-Pak cricket will never be the right vehicle for taking bilateral relations to the next level.

That cricket can never be a substitute for quiet, serious diplomacy is borne out by past record. Gen Zia-ul-Haq initiated cricket diplomacy in 1987 by forcing himself on a reluctant Indian government after a near crisis caused by the Operation Brasstacks military exercise had been diffused. Pervez Musharraf’s sojourn in 2005 to watch the match in New Delhi also didn’t lead to any major breakthrough.