India vs Australia: Limits of cricket diplomacy: A case study of India-Pakistan's past instances to break the ice

The iconic image of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi presenting a new Test cap to skipper Rohit Sharma and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese handing over a special Baggy Green to Aussie skipper Steve Smith today will be etched in the memories of cricket fans for a long time.

Albanese’s visit to India to attend the first day of the fourth Test match between India and Australia in Ahmedabad is a commemoration of the two nations' 75th year of diplomatic relations.

Amid much fanfare at a glittering event, he was received by the Indian PM at the Narendra Modi stadium, where the fourth Test started today.

Sports events have been used to consolidate diplomatic ties between nations for long, the most famous being the 1971 Ping Pong diplomacy, when the US and China played multiple times with each other. The US lifted its embargo against China the same year.

In India's context, Albanese's visit is not a one-off event used by the government to strengthen bilateral relations with a country. India has been using cricket diplomacy for more than three decades.

Such attempts have succeeded in temporarily calming a flare-up in tensions, but in the larger picture, they haven’t borne much fruit.

Sometimes, non-state actors or misunderstandings between the nations have thwarted their efforts to maintain peace.  

Past instances of cricket diplomacy 

General Zia Ul-Haq visiting India in 1987

His arrival was the least expected when, all of a sudden, on February 21, 1987, his Pakistan Air Force jet landed at the Delhi airport, leaving his Indian counterpart, Rajiv Gandhi, surprised.

He alleged that India was amassing troops near Pakistan's borders.

The Pakistan cricket team was on the India tour when Zia came on the pretext of watching the Jaipur Test between the two teams.

He attended the match and left for Pakistan the next day. His visit diminished tensions, and both countries withdrew thousands of troops by the end of March.

But those were the same years when Pakistan was aiding extremism in Jammu and Kashmir. So the visit didn’t achieve the desired goal.

Parvez Musharraf’s visit to India in 2005  

Relations between India and Pakistan soured after the Kargil War, when Parvez Musharraf was leading the neighbouring country’s army.

Years later, when he became the president of Pakistan, he accepted the Indian government’s invitation to watch a match between India and Pakistan.

Musharraf came to India to see both teams in action in an ODI in New Delhi, where he accompanied Indian PM Manmohan Singh.

Two years later, the Samjhauta Express train blast happened, and in 2008, the Mumbai terror attack took place.

Investigation revealed the links of these two blasts with non-state actors in Pakistan. As a result, Pakistani players were barred from playing in the Indian Premier League, and the Pakistan team’s proposed tour in 2009 was cancelled.

Yousuf Raza Gilani’s visit to India in 2011

After the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, relations between India and Pakistan turned cold.

But the Indian government made the first move to break the ice and invited Pakistan PM Yousuf Raza Gilani for the 2011 World Cup quarterfinal match in Mohali.

Gilani came to India and watched the match with Manmohan Singh. Peace talks began after the visit, and the Pakistan team visited India in 2012 for an ODI and a T20 series. 

On December 25, 2015, Modi visited Lahore to wish his Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif, on his birthday.

It was not a visit where cricket was discussed, but it was also the last attempt at restoring India-Pakistan cricket ties.

A week later, the Pathankot military base was attacked, and in September 2016, an attack on the Army Brigade headquarters in Uri happened.

A Pakistan-based Islamist extremist group, Jaish-e-Mohammed, was suspected in both of these attacks.

The attacks were a death blow to attempts at restarting cricket with Pakistan.

India and Australia don’t have such a chequered past.

However, there have been instances when Indians have faced racist attacks in Australia.

In October 2022, Shubham Garg, a 28-year-old student from Agra who was also an IIT graduate, was stabbed multiple times by a local man in Sydney.

In January in Victoria, there was an attack on Indians carrying the tricolor by supporters of a pro-Khalistan group.

However, the Australian government has always encouraged Indians to seek logistical assistance in Australia.

Let’s see what India’s latest attempt to strengthen diplomatic relations with Australia through Albanese’s visit accomplishes.