Pakistani and Indian hockey teams also used to play finals in the Asian and World Olympics for a very long long time but never did once we ever see the amount of hype that afflicts short duration cricket matches between these two countries. Australia and England are also traditional rivals in cricket test matches and they fight for Ashes every second year but one has seldom seen any hype either in Australia or England.
Sports need to be kept clear of politics. The final cricket match of Asia Cup between Pakistan and India the other day looked as if these two countries were fighting a war over Kashmir. The media of these two countries are also responsible to a great extent for building up hype bordering on hysteria among the people of these two countries to a very great extent.
In the not too distant past cricket teams of both these countries used to play on Indian and Pakistan soil but never did once we witness display of such discourtesy shown by some players in the final of Asia Cup the other day which is unfortunate, to say the least.
