The indications were getting stronger and stronger by the day. And yet when the formal announcement was made on Tuesday, it came as the proverbial death blow to the hopes of the average Indian cricket fan. He is an eternal optimist where the game is concerned and would have assumed that with all the tough talk, the Indian government would finally relent and allow the national team to take part in the Asian Test Championship. Now that the decision has been taken, it is perhaps time not only to look back at the developments that led to the pull out, but more importantly, the future of India-Pakistan cricketing ties and the game in the region.

To take the second point first, it is hard not to be pessimistic. There are bound to be serious repercussions, if the immediate reaction from Pakistan is any indication. Zakir Sayed, the secretary of the Asian Cricket Council has already accused India of going back on its "commitment" to play in the ATC. Reacting to the Indian government's decision not to take part in the championship, Sayed said that the entire ACC programme, including the India-Pakistan match, was drawn up with the "permission of the Indian government."

"It was the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India AC Muthiah who had obtained permission from the government and worked out the ATC schedule at the ACC meeting in Lahore sometime back," Syed said. "Having given permission to the competition, it is strange on the part of India to go back on its own commitment," he said, adding "we have tried our best to take India along but it is sad that India have chosen to opt out."

According to sources, the Indian decision to boycott the ATC was a fallout of the Kargil conflict in 1999. This is not hard to believe. After all, India had cancelled a scheduled cricket tour of Pakistan in December last year and then pulled out of the Sharjah series in April. India has repeatedly refused to participate in any bilateral cricket series with Pakistan, whom it accuses of backing cross-border terrorism in Kashmir.

Just how important the decision was is conveyed by the fact that it was taken at a high level meeting between Prime Minister Vajpayee, Home Minister Advani and Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh. Their discussions were on the basis of a letter written by Sports Minister Uma Bharati to the Prime Minister suggesting India should not participate in the Championship.

Bharati is considered a hawk on the issue, a firebrand Sports Minister. She has always believed in speaking out her mind and only on Monday, she made it clear that India would not be bullied into participating in the tournament.

"The decision cannot be forced upon the government," Bharati thundered. She was reacting to the statement made by Asian Cricket Foundation President Jagmohan Dalmiya that India should convey their decision by August 23 or the championship would go ahead without them.

"We will not take a decision merely on the threat issued by someone," retorted Bharati. After this outburst, the pull out was only a matter of time.

It is commonly believed that politics and sport should not mix but this is easier said than done. And where India-Pakistan cricket ties are concerned, keeping politics and sport apart is next to impossible. There is little doubt that much hinged on the Vajpayee-Musharraf summit in Agra last month. The failure of that meeting meant many things and among these, it was clear that cricketing ties would suffer a setback.

Despite all the goodwill gestures generated by cricket officials from the two countries while drawing up the fixtures for the ATC at Lahore in May, there was always the lurking doubt that all was not hunky dory. At that time itself, some of the comments made by the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Gen Tauqir Zia, the lack of assurance by the Indian government on a bilateral series and the long troubled history of cricketing ties between the two countries had all led to there being a strong undercurrent of tension and uncertainty over not only the ATC but also the future of India-Pakistan cricket ties.

But not even the most cynical observer of the strained cricketing relations between the two countries would have bargained for such a quick torpedo to be thrown at an already besieged boat. Within just 72 hours of the announcement of the fixtures in Lahore, the Indian government threw a heavy spanner into the works. First, Bharati, unhappy at the `unilateral announcement' that India would play Pakistan at Karachi during the ATC in September, conveyed the government's displeasure to the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, AC Muthiah over the issue.

About the same time, a second salvo was fired by Jaswant Singh who said that the Indian Government was against cricket matches between India and Pakistan bilaterally as the one-dayers between the two countries and their televised aspect made them "less cricket and more gladiatorial contests." Replying to a question on the government's decision not to play cricket with Pakistan, he added that given the prevailing atmosphere, it was not advisable for extended cricket tours bilaterally of that nature. After that, it had to be downhill all the way.

From India's viewpoint, there is one more disturbing aspect. At the ACC meeting in May, it was agreed to have a system by which a side failing to honour contractual obligations to play in a series has to offer compensation to its rival team. For long, Pakistan had been demanding such a compensation clause to be included in the ICC's ten- year calendar for Test playing countries. After claiming that India's decision to cancel its scheduled tour to Pakistan last year had cost substantial financial losses to it, the PCB had urged the ICC to introduce such a clause to deter any country from going back on playing commitments in future. Being a signatory at the ACC meeting has now put India at a considerable disadvantage.

Also, according to the ICC's ten year tour programme, India is scheduled to play against Pakistan in Pakistan three times. In addition to this, India has also agreed to take part in the Asia Cup to be played in Pakistan in 2002. At the moment, given the current developments, nothing can be certain about India-Pakistan cricket ties.

Current developments can turn even the most supreme optimist into an out and out cynic. Under the circumstances, can one be blamed for reasoning that the future of India-Pakistan cricketing ties is bleak? There was a time when the two countries did not meet on the cricket field for more than 17 years. Are we in for something similar again?

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