"India’s reaction to Bangladesh’s 2015 cricket victory"

Cricket is a passion that India and Bangladesh share, but as Abdullah Al Hasan, 23, a Commonwealth Correspondent from Dhaka in Bangladesh writes, intense rivalry can threaten good relationships between the two countries.

India and Bangladesh are neighbouring countries. They have almost the same types of people, cultures, religions and lifestyles. Back in 1971, India helped Bangladesh win their liberation war. India espoused Bangladesh directly during the war. They share a strong democratic affinity between themselves.

With so many things in common in these two countries, it is understandable that both countries play the same types of sports. Mostly they play cricket and are the members of ICC (International Cricket Council). Indian and Bangladeshi people are very fond of cricket. Being impulsive in nature, they love cricket so much that they almost worship it. No other countries actually cry their teams up like these two when they win a match. It creates a huge furor.

But it is veritable that though these two countries play cricket, the Indian team is way brawnier than the Bangladeshi team. There are a lot of great players in India, while in Bangladesh they number only a few. India has the largest and richest cricket board in the whole world; they arrange various tournaments every year, whereas Bangladesh is still striving to set up a proper academy through which new players will come out to take the responsibility of the national team.

Bangladesh and India have faced each other on the ground more than a hundred times, and most of the times India managed to win. The journey of Indian cricket commenced a long way back, while Bangladesh is still a young country to play cricket.

So the problem arises. In spite of being so friendly with Bangladesh, the Indian media does not like to give much priority to the Bangladesh cricket team since Bangladesh lags so far behind. Some media humiliate Bangladesh by showing statistics and comparing their players and records. Diverted by the media, Indian fans follow along on social media.

Recently, Bangladesh beat and knocked England out of the World Cup. It was a great day for Bangladeshis to celebrate. The whole country was in a festive mood and sang in praise. But some Indian channels, newspapers, commentators and even cricket analysts strictly refrained from admiring the Bangladesh Cricket team. In some cases, they belittled Bangladesh. They even mocked the celebrations.  This impassivity started back in the 2007 World Cup when India got knocked out because of Bangladesh.

Bangladeshi people can not take this slight easily, and have launched a storm on Bangladeshi media and social media. Bengali people are shocked and outright resentful. As a neighbouring and cricket-playing country, India has a lot of supporters from Bangladesh. In this sub-continent, probably only India has a larger number of supporters than Bangladesh, apart from their own country.

The impact is appalling. Bangladeshi people have also joined this media war. They are criticising India and its team; they are showing hatred for India on social media. This might have a great effect in the long run. It could spoil the relationship between these two countries entirely, because this type of event ultimately takes a bigger shape in the end. And it takes a lot to refit and pay for it: Both countries should take that into serious consideration.

If it goes on, the environment of cricket will be lost for eternity in this sub-continent. Pakistan is already facing a problem as other countries don’t come to visit them considering the safety issue. Now if India and Bangladesh hold feelings of hostility so long, this would lead other countries to have some negative feelings towards these countries. Indian and Bangladeshi supporters have a great image across the world for being the most emotional and diehard fans of their respective teams. If their media and people fight each other, that image would be ruined for good.

However, it should be conceded that there are people from India who congratulated Bangladesh and its cricket team. They consider it a development of cricket; especially a development of the cricket environment of this sub-continent. When two neighbouring countries play good cricket, it proves that in this sporting arena cricket has a positive value.

It’s time both countries should be more careful about reacting such way. If they want to take cricket to a higher place, they have to work together for it. They should pay some respect to each other. After all, at the end of the day cricket is only a game. The emotions about cricket tell us another story, but both countries should evaluate it precisely. This is the true spirit of cricket. Cricket wins this way.

photo credit: BD vs Ind 7 via photopin (license)

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About me:

Hi I’m from Bangladesh, the green land. Currently I’m studying marketing at North South University, Dhaka. I love to explore human minds. Writing is my favourite pastime. I always try to do research about people, politics, metaphysics, English and marketing.

I’m just an ordinary guy with some extra-ordinary dreams to be fulfilled. I believe a moment staying with family is just worth living. Friends are my oxygen.

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Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Commonwealth Youth Programme. Articles are published in a spirit of dialogue, respect and understanding. If you disagree, why not submit a response?

To learn more about becoming a Commonwealth Correspondent please visit: http://www.yourcommonwealth.org/submit-articles/commonwealthcorrespondents/

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