[The nation is experiencing a
much-needed burst of joy after it unexpectedly beat India in a cricket match in
Dubai.]
Still, a fan supports his team, and
Mr. Barlas, 35, prepared a special dish of chicken and rice and invited his college
buddies to watch the inevitable.
“The get-together of the friends
was meant for the enjoyment of the game, but we were also mentally prepared for
a loss,” Mr. Barlas said. He added, “We were feeling anxious but kept repeating
the sentence, ‘First of all, you don’t have to panic,’” referencing a phrase
popularized by Pakistan’s prime minister, Imran Khan, who was
once a cricket star.
Pakistan averted defeat. It
unexpectedly beat India on Sunday night in Dubai, advancing to play New Zealand
on Tuesday evening — it won that match, too — and giving the nation a
much-needed boost that lingered even two days later.
With an ailing economy, bitter
political discord among the ruling and opposition political parties, militants
rearing their heads in some parts of the country, and turbulent relations with
the United States and several European countries, Pakistan sorely needs a
feel-good moment.
“In a country where cricket is
almost a religion and good news — sporting or otherwise — has been hard to come
by in the recent past, the victory was a much-needed reason to celebrate,” read
an editorial in The Express Tribune on Tuesday.
The win united the nation,
enveloping it with a sense of national pride. Cricket binds the country. It is
perhaps the only legacy of British colonialism that is neither contentious nor
despised. Instead, cricket stirs passions and transcends ethnic, linguistic and
political divides.
The victory over India set off
celebrations that carried on long into Sunday night. The whole country was
transfixed on the live match, which was aired in restaurants and cafes. Streets
and shopping centers were mostly deserted from 7 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.
After the win, people young and old
poured out onto the streets, honking horns, setting off big rounds of
firecrackers and breaking into Bhangra moves in several Punjabi cities and
towns. Many even resorted to aerial firing (which is illegal, but no one seemed
to care Sunday night). The green flag of Pakistan was raised with pride.
Immediately victory memes went
viral on the country’s WhatsApp groups, and one video on Instagram of a newlywed couple was widely
shared. In it, the groom stands up as soon as the wedding hall receives the
news of Pakistan’s win and starts chanting, “Long live Pakistan!” He is quickly
joined by other guests.
On his Twitter account, Mr. Khan,
the prime minister, who was visiting Saudi Arabia over the weekend, posted a photograph of himself watching the match in a
hotel suite, surrounded by cabinet ministers, with a message: “The nation is
proud of you all.”
Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, the interior
minister, said he had ordered the removal of police barricades and blockades on
the roads in Islamabad, the capital, and some parts of Punjab so that the
public could celebrate. The police had taken preventive measures last week to
stop a protest of a religious party from marching toward Islamabad.
On Monday, the country’s newspapers
carried stark headlines and pictures of the cricket team on their front pages.
Pakistan “vanquished” India, one English daily declared. Jang, the country’s
leading Urdu newspaper, described the win as “historic,” a sentiment echoed by
other major Urdu newspapers.
Saba Usman, a teacher at a private
school in Islamabad, said her fifth-grade students were overjoyed the next
morning. “The children couldn’t stop talking about the game and kept praising
Pakistani players,” she said. “Some of my students said they couldn’t sleep out
of happiness.”
Pakistanis who are not fans of
cricket also felt elated. “The win was an excuse to dance and enjoy with
friends and family,” said Hamza Rao, a resident of Lahore. “Even those who are
not into sports, like me, took vicarious pleasure.”
Mr. Rao said he phoned his sister
and rushed to her house to celebrate the win. “We ordered cheat meals,” he
said, “without any guilt.”
The celebrations, however, cost
some fans dearly. The police in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir, the
picturesque Himalayan region that is claimed by both India and Pakistan, said
students who celebrated Pakistan’s victory were being investigated under an
antiterrorism law.
As Indian players played down the
disappointment as something that happens in sport and images of the Indian
captain graciously congratulating a victorious Pakistani team made the rounds
as expressions of good sportsmanship, Indian fans took it differently.
Online abuse took a communal tone,
with trolls channeling much of their anger at the only Muslim player on the
team. Some of the abuse was so vicious that many veterans of Indian cricket had
to come to the support of the player, Mohammad Shami.
For a majority of the fans of the
Pakistani cricket team, the revelry has continued. Mr. Barlas, the cricket fan
who watched the game with his college friends, had said a special prayer before
the game. Afterward, he gave out sweets in the neighborhood.
On Tuesday he said, “My friends and
I are still intoxicated by the win.”
Mujib Mashal contributed
reporting.
