Is it peace or war? India and Pakistan back at cricket

India and Pakistan do not agree on much, and more than three times over the past 60 years have showed their mutual disdain through war. But on one thing both countries are in firm agreement. Cricket is the best sport in the world.

How they reached that conclusion will, of course, require some explanation. And during the next two weeks, as the Indian cricket team begins its first tour of Pakistan in 15 years, there will be many opportunities for these two countries to explain themselves on television, in roadside cafes, in living rooms, and even in the seminaries scattered across the Pakistani countryside.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the cricket series between India and Pakistan, scheduled to begin March 13 and running through March 24, will largely shut down both countries. Up to 10,000 Indians will receive visas to travel to the games. TV advertising rights alone should generate $21 million, and gambling syndicates in Delhi, Karachi, and Dubai will redistribute the incomes of countless Asians, rich and poor.

"This has become more than a game for Pakistan and India," says Pushpesh Pant, a professor of diplomacy at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. "It's a bit of religion, with the hero worship of the players. It's a bit of politics, with two great rival nations seeing who is the better. It's a bit of a lottery, so that with a little talent, even a poor street worker might be able to break away from poverty."

Like most of South Asia's main religions, cricket was introduced by a foreign conqueror - the British - and gradually was adopted by the local population as their own. But unlike Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism (which as a rule does not convert people), cricket has managed to reach over all ethnic, religious, and class boundaries. There are even cricket teams for the disabled. Last week, the Indian blind women's cricket team made a tour of Pakistan.

But cricket is also incredibly complicated, with a veritable Pentateuch of rules. Cricket fans speak an altogether different form of English, full of phrases like "chucking a wobbly." (Translation: throwing a wild pitch; can also mean throwing a temper tantrum, when applied to toddlers.)

A single test match can take up to five days, with breaks for tea and sandwiches. To help increase the mass appeal of cricket, a shorter form of the game was invented, in which both teams actually get to bat on the same day. But even one-day matches end up being about seven hours of standing and scratching.

"The shorter form of the game is easier to follow, so it became more popular," says Sharda Ugra, sports editor for India Today magazine. "Now even housewives or grandmothers will follow the game."

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