I don't know what's wrong with people. When since last 70 years Pakistan was doing such things then nobody even raised an issue on playing any sport with Pakistan. But all of a sudden today people are saying to stop playing Pakistan and all that. I mean these things aren't in anyone's control, nobody did predict that sort of an attack all of a sudden from the Terrorists. What I feel is if we don't play Pakistan it would be a win for Pakistan as they want India to get influenced by all these things. Why do you think the army men are standing there on the border ? To protect our country and our land and to ensure that people live their lives peacefully. Cricket is a sport that is in the heart of everyone in this Country. Everyone feels the happiness when India wins a Cricket match and if we stop playing it is only going to hurt the sentiments of people in this Country and that is not what the people standing there on the border want. If we really respect our army men and want them to feel satisfied by their act which they do for the Country then we should not get influenced by these things. Ban the Pakistani products, break the relation with Pakistan Gov, stop watching Pakistani movies and stop trading with them is the thing we should do but do not stop the sport. Just think about the happiness that our army men would feel if India beats Pakistan in the WC. I think people shouldn't actually support this thing about not playing with Pakistan but instead hope that India beats them fair and square in the WC. That would be an ideal victory when it comes down to a sport
Leaving out the past 10-15 years, remaining 60 years were quite different. There was no social media, very less press coverage etc.. Anything that happened in the world was not reaching the people on large scale. Hence, there was no noise about it. At present, people are exposed to social platforms, live news updates around the globe, smartphones, internet and what not. Literacy rate has also increased.
Just wanted to make one thing clear, you said that people want to see the team play cricket and Army want to see us winning the game against Pakistan. You are absolutely wrong here. [HASHTAG]#BoycottPakistan[/HASHTAG] was trending yesterday on Twitter. And also most of the regional news channels were running a live poll asking people to vote 'Yes' or 'No' for the question Should the Indian Team boycott match against Pakistan in WC? And more than 65% have said, YES. Some of the news channels have done the ground report asking people the same question and most of them have clearly said No match against Pakistan.
This is the same India where people wanted to watch India vs Pakistan match. And this is the same cricket fans who have opposed for that match this time...
Again, it not about playing and not playing. If it was solely for the army, then BCCI would've withdrawn from the tournament. But their condition is they would not play Pakistan anymore. Many of you say, Pakistan would get free points in the points table if India forfieted the match, but there won't be more embarrassing moment for them for getting the points for free rather than beating the team on the field. And many believe that, the current ODI squad is much better than other teams in the tournament. And this opinion is not mine but the opinions of the former Australia, England and New Zealand cricketers.