March 30th world cup semi-final, India Vs Pakistan match at Mohali cricket grounds was all set. I had taken half day off to watch the existing match which could not happen very often. I was cheering up from India. Pakistan gave a good fight and eventually lost the match in high pressure conditions.
I was thinking about both the teams after the match, I felt personally on paper both Indian and Pakistan team looked same with different strengths and weakness. But of a given day which team had the advantage eventually had a good chance of winning the match.
I felt India won this particular encounter because of soft power and not because of exceptional cricket team or any individual brilliance.
What is this soft power?
First - Economic Power
India is getting better and better economically and Pakistan is getting into a shell with lots on internal problems and international pressure. In sports world economic power contributes either directly or indirectly in getting certain advantage. Such home support , conditions , accessibility to better training and others.This edge must have made a difference between both the teams
Second - Bollywood
Pakistan people watch Bollywood movies and most of Pakistan people and cricketers love Bollywood actors and actress and also idolize them. In this particular match lots of Bollywood stars were present and they were cheering for India. This creates an artificial pressure on players and that too particularly on young player who have just started their international cricketing career.
Third - IPL
Due to security reasons and politics, in recent IPL auction no Pakistan players were selected to IPL. This had created lots of heartburns to Pakistan players, media and people. When I saw their conversation about this, I felt some kind of eagerness in Pakistan players to play in IPL and also to make money out of it. In that sense no player wants to have a bad relation with Indian counter parts and also might want to build a personal relationship with individual players and IPL owners. This got the players into some kind of artificial pressure where they want to show case their talent but not defeat the Indian team with lots of individual aggression. Which we have seen in lots of India vs. Pak matches earlier.Pak players were playing like English player who just play and not show any kind of expression on the field. And also in the post match conference. Pak captain was very gracefully in accepting the defeat.
Fourth - Home ground and people.
Any strong team when playing in front of hostile people and ground is bound to lose the game. Every sport has shown this time and again and Cricket is not different to this. If you want to defeat a strong team, Invite a home series and win the matches!!
I do not want to sound that Indian team won this match without any effort. The above 4 points just provides a better platform to go and conquer the world. Apart from that all the players have to put in effort and get the world cup. There are no short cuts to success. One has to go through pain to make any gain.
I was thinking about both the teams after the match, I felt personally on paper both Indian and Pakistan team looked same with different strengths and weakness. But of a given day which team had the advantage eventually had a good chance of winning the match.
I felt India won this particular encounter because of soft power and not because of exceptional cricket team or any individual brilliance.
What is this soft power?
First - Economic Power
India is getting better and better economically and Pakistan is getting into a shell with lots on internal problems and international pressure. In sports world economic power contributes either directly or indirectly in getting certain advantage. Such home support , conditions , accessibility to better training and others.This edge must have made a difference between both the teams
Second - Bollywood
Pakistan people watch Bollywood movies and most of Pakistan people and cricketers love Bollywood actors and actress and also idolize them. In this particular match lots of Bollywood stars were present and they were cheering for India. This creates an artificial pressure on players and that too particularly on young player who have just started their international cricketing career.
Third - IPL
Due to security reasons and politics, in recent IPL auction no Pakistan players were selected to IPL. This had created lots of heartburns to Pakistan players, media and people. When I saw their conversation about this, I felt some kind of eagerness in Pakistan players to play in IPL and also to make money out of it. In that sense no player wants to have a bad relation with Indian counter parts and also might want to build a personal relationship with individual players and IPL owners. This got the players into some kind of artificial pressure where they want to show case their talent but not defeat the Indian team with lots of individual aggression. Which we have seen in lots of India vs. Pak matches earlier.Pak players were playing like English player who just play and not show any kind of expression on the field. And also in the post match conference. Pak captain was very gracefully in accepting the defeat.
Fourth - Home ground and people.
Any strong team when playing in front of hostile people and ground is bound to lose the game. Every sport has shown this time and again and Cricket is not different to this. If you want to defeat a strong team, Invite a home series and win the matches!!
I do not want to sound that Indian team won this match without any effort. The above 4 points just provides a better platform to go and conquer the world. Apart from that all the players have to put in effort and get the world cup. There are no short cuts to success. One has to go through pain to make any gain.
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