Chinmay Chakravarty's Blog: CHINMAYC BLOG

In anunprecedented stampede at a Kolkata Durga Puja pandal last night, the 17thof October 2026, at least 19 people have lost their lives with many injuredbeing treated in the city hospitals. Good things only have always been saidabout the incredible Durga Puja festival in the state of West Bengal,particularly in the city of joy Kolkata. And there’s nothing to doubt about inthis regard: the display of the idols (thakur)and the pandals in an unbelievable richness of themes and creative designs acrossalmost all the streets and lanes of the city; the famous big Pujas installingthe idols just a day or two after Mahalaya so as to ensure the unending footfalls hence; and the music stages, thefood-selling or the variety-store stalls also installed along with all theother items signifying a mouth-watering fair that continues for at least aweek, day and night. So, huge crowds, from all corners of the city, from thestate and even from other states of the country descend on the streets for themuch awaited pandal-hopping or thakurdekha every year. Lakhs of people spill over into almost all the streets andlanes from usually the afternoon hours till dawn next day. No doubt, crowdmanagement controls with police and private security personnel are in order atmost checkpoints and entry/exit points. However, should an untoward incidenthappen, like a false alarm or rumour or a smoke or a thunderstorm, the swelledcrowds would naturally break all barriers, crushing everything in front like amindless machine.

Who cancontrol that kind of an eventuality? The controlling personnel would likely endup being victims of the stampede rather than preventing it. Else the Tamil NaduCM Vijay’s election rally deaths could’ve been prevented or the deaths in theVirat Kohli (RCB) victory march crowds could’ve been prevented or the numeroustemple stampedes happing across the country with monstrous regularity could’vebeen prevented permanently long back. In an overpopulated country like ourswith the infra bursting at the seams, finding the scapegoat is always theeasiest option than finding a lasting preventive formula. That’s what happeningin Kolkata right now. The police and private security personnel in charge ofthat fateful pandal are being blamed; the Puja Committee office bearers arebeing blamed, resulting in the arrest of seven people so far. The rulers wouldthus score their brownie points with a servile media backing their every moveand would finally emerge the heroes out of a sheer public tragedy alreadyalmost forgotten.

Last evening,we visited our nearest Durga Puja pandal for the evening prayers. The thakurdekha crowds had alreadyoutnumbered the local genuine devotees and swelling all the time. The pandal,made in colourful design and finish, stood solid and spacious, but it wasobviously not built in a way to shelter a huge crowd in an emergency. I alwaysfind the crowds inside a pandal rather stolid and unresponsive to anything. Theylook to be there with a singular purpose of fulfilling a wish and the peoplearound them hardly ever matter. They look up to the Goddess as if only to clicktheir photos with Her so as to be able to post those in their social mediahandles. I always shiver to think that they’d only respond when there is anemergency—to save themselves against all odds, even if it meant trampling downall others around them. Standing out the time taken to complete the formalities,I finally rid myself of the constant pushing and jostling and emerged into theopen ground which is normally used as a public park, looking around at thesurrounding illuminated commercial stalls.

Suddenly, astrong wind wheezed around even as lightning littered the sky and very soonthere began a drizzle. People who were lounging on the green field witheatables of sorts stood up immediately and rushed into the pandal. My wife wasstill inside, in the thick of the crowd that started swelling up ominously now.I started having the beginnings of a nightmare. What would happen if thedrizzle suddenly developed into a torrential downpour with loud thunder and lightning? Police and volunteers were there aroundthe ground. But how would they be able to control if the whole crowd rush intothe pandal? I acted immediately. Called my wife on phone and asked her tosomehow come out of the crowd. It took quite a long time for her to succeed inbreaking through the crowd to join me on our short walk home. Fortunately, thedrizzle never turned into a torrent.

But it didin that fateful pandal, almost at the same time as we decided to come home. Crowdsnever behave rationally. They’d, of course, think of their immediate safety,but would never want to give up on their singular wish as I mentioned earlier. Withtheir devices in them they become kind of a digital entity that doesn’t feelthe way normal human beings feel. They are more like the AI Actors, but sans thecomputer controls.

The presentstate of things across the country are not at all helping them to see sense. Theclutch of consumerism over them is getting tighter all the time, trying tomaximise their earnings by hook or by crook, optimizing their choices in themost reckless manner possible and thinking that if they didn’t cash in they’dbe the miserable losers in this unannounced race. This explains the constantrush at the markets, malls, food plazas, clubs and pubs; not to speak of thefestivals numerous. Even trying to achieve virtue of punya has seemed to become a part of the consumerism. This supposedphenomenon of Punya Consumerism issquarely responsible for the uncontrollable crowds at the temples or any placeor worship on auspicious occasions. All-round raging commercialization is justcashing in on this craze of consumerism and punya consumerism.

The governmentscherish this as a consumer demand, giving the much needed opportunities for newbusinesses to flourish. The media, ever hungry for TRP, only hypes this up, forexample, covering the festivals with the constantly reminding tickers thatcrowds are swelling up—as the night advances the crowds grow bigger and bigger—andlike that. Such crash commercialization obviously leads to regulatoryviolations in all business activities. Like the Goa club fire, the Tarapithhotel fire and other hotel fires all around, the hospital fires, the Delhi andMumbai house collapses or hoardings crashes or artificial floods. On the occurrenceof any such mishap the media would immediately join the governments and gloatover the arrests or probes in terms of SITs or safety audits or compensationpackages or whatever. Have we ever seen an in-depth cover story about whyhotels crop up in clusters or the hospital safety scenario or anything of thatkind in complete disregard to mandatory regulations? The system works so thateverything gets forgotten soon and it’s back to ‘business’ as usual with thecrowds enjoying like never before.

Very sadand unfortunate. But would such things ever stop? No way as the things standnow, and it could only worsen with the surging crowds dominating and the systemsupporting. In my view, the onus for the only way to prevent such human tragedieslies squarely on us, the consumers. We must become rational, restrained andsocially conscious. Kolkata Durga Puja could be the most exciting enticing andincredible festival of the world, but we must still put controls on ourpandal-hopping craze and instead find peace during the quiet hours at thepandals without the devices attached all around our bodies. As for thegovernments they must find more effective ways to control crowds at the source,instead of finding scapegoats when an unfortunate mishap occurs. If they candeploy thousands of security forces to control a few hundred protestors why can’tthey find a permanent solution with the enormous resources they have in theircoffers? Development needs to beredefined. Time is running out!

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You’dlikely find the rather interjectory title above preposterous, absurd or even abit offensive. And you’d probably be very right too; for you might be intenselyaware of the joys of kulhad tea inthe northern states of the country like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar among others orbharer cha of West Bengal among other eastern states—both of whichvarieties mean steaming milk tea served in earthen or clay cups. You might alsoangrily retort by saying ‘come winter and you show me the way without the steaminghot milk tea for company’! I heartily second your opinion and your taste buds,because I too am all for the cups of milk tea—be it on the street corners or athome. However, I still have my concerns and fears that are based on myexperience in the last few years. But of course, I don’t have empirical data tojustify my fears which ultimately may be termed as totally subjective. Whateverit is, I must elaborate my point. 

I’d firstconcentrate on my home state Assam, though there are other places where I hadhad similar experiences. In the last few years I discovered to my horror thatthe practice of serving milk tea to visitors or staff had almost vanished asfar as the offices were concerned—government or private. Whenever I visited orworked in an office in my home state the polite peon would always bring in cupsof black tea, red tea, lemon tea or green tea without giving me a choice. Thesupervising officer or the host would always keep mum. When in dire need of acup of milk tea I ask the officer about its availability s/he would politelyanswer in the assured negative. Alas!

Moreconcerning had been the changing patterns of behavior in the homes of friendsor close relatives: during the initial onset of the vanishing species they usedto ask me about my choice—red tea or milk tea and I’d always confirm my expresschoice; unfortunately, in the later years the hosts must’ve found the askingfor choice quite illogical for their convenience or their own preferences, and therefore,they stopped asking which resulted in me served always with the red black orthe green variety irrespective of my needs of the hour. Alas!

NotwithstandingAssam being the state for quality tea leafs or powders called the Assam Tea allover the country we did find the tea served in the trains or at the stationsthe worst in India over the decades. Experts explained to my bitterlycomplaining self that the best quality tea is always exported and unless youhave direct links with some influential persons at the tea gardens you’ll haveto make do with whatever you get. However, all of those served teas had beenmilk tea, invariably! Yes! I’m coming to my point. Milk tea has also been vanishing from the trains or stations at a fastrate!

Let meelaborate with the example of two short train journeys we undertook in therecent past in the state of West Bengal where people have traditionally beenfond of milk tea—particularly the bharercha we mentioned earlier. My experience really shook me. In the onwardjourney it was relatively okay. There was a solitary vendor selling milk teawith tea bags amid hordes of other vendors offering all kinds of eatables eventhough most of the passengers boarded the train with their bellies full. Therewere also other vendors selling all the other varieties of tea that you understand.Toward the end of the journey we were again in need of a cup of milk tea, butthe lone vendor was nowhere to be seen and we had to make do.

The returnjourney was the most revealing one! After a hurried breakfast we boarded thetrain and immediately we were in great need of steaming cups of milk tea. Wewaited and waited; but there was not even the lone vendor. All other varietiesof tea kept on coming up along with all the food items we never wanted. Therewas liquor tea meaning the black or red tea; there was the lemon tea; and therewas even kind of a chutney tea,meaning the tea was a mega-mix of lemons, peppermint, salt, sugar and what not.We scowled at the pushing vendors having even to bark them off at times; but nomilk tea vendor came our way. Making things worse the train got late, and itwas like ‘miles to go before we have our milk tea’ kind of a situation. Alas!

In thecrowded food lanes of various metros and cities too, I often experiencedtremendous hardships in locating a milk tea joint. Here also, the situationseems to be worsening! In Mumbai and in some areas of Delhi in particular youhave to roam literal miles to find a tea seller. Another factor that may becontributing toward the vanishing act of the milk tea can be mentioned here:that in Maharashtra specially that may be spreading to other places too fast,most people consider milk tea as some kind of a liability: when you treat themwith a plateful delicacies and sweets along with a steaming cup of milk teathey sip down the tea as if in a great hurry and after that only they launchthemselves heartily on the plateful. Such disdain for my favourite tea! Alas!

So then, I doconcentrate on my ‘home is where the milk tea still is’, because here I can dojustice to my simple choices, provided, of course, there’s an understandingspouse too. And Mumbai has given me the solution long back, in the phenomenonof ‘cutting chai’ which means I can have it in smaller quantities doing fulljustice to my needs and the desired frequency.

To concludein the face of this supposedly looming eventuality I must clarify myself a bit. Mindyou! I’m not blind to the health angle here. Yes, people need to cut down theirintake of dairy and sugar and so they reduce the cups of milk tea they take. Whilethe healthy benefits of liquor tea or herbal tea or even chutney tea are moreor less proven, the general perception of milk tea harming our gastronomy orincreasing acidity is not quite boldly established so far. Anyway, I take lemontea to begin the day since decades as a doctor once told me lemon tea preventsclogging of the arteries. But finally, I believe in the adage ‘excess ofeverything is bad’ and apply it to my milk teas also. Besides, there are otheroption available like oat milk, soya milk and all that to substitute the dairyprovided your taste buds approve; along with various sizes of the tea cupsavailable at the street corners so that you can go for the smallest cup at fivebucks and ascend up the order per your specific needs and you can also havesugar-free tea. Cheers!

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Drishyam: TheConclusion co-written,produced and directed by Abhishek Pathak, the third and presumably the finalfilm of the crime-thriller Drishyam Hindi Franchise, released all over onOctober 2, 2026 and had in the meantime this Ajay Devgn starrer has become ablockbuster superhit, grossing over Rs. 300 crores domestically and nearly Rs.460 crores globally so far; and also becoming the second highest grossing Hindimovie of the year and the second highest grossing Indian movie of the year.Curiously enough, the first Hindi Drishyamof the Series in 2015 directed by Nishikant Kamat, an adaptation of the original Malayalam Mammootty-starrerall-time blockbuster in Kerala crime-thriller Drishyamin 2013 directed by Jeethu Joseph, was not a blockbuster nor even a proper hit, only a semi-hit per thebox-office verdict; however, thanks primarily to word-of-mouth publicity thefilm emerged as a cult film thus creating an immense interest for the sequelsover the years. Both the sequels made in Malayalam in 2021 and in Hindi in 2022became bigger hits, coming to be called as ones of the best sequels ever made.

There were changes in approaches for the respectivethird movies of both the franchises. While the Malayalam version decided todelve into the evolution of the protagonist Georgekutty— from a determinedhouseholder to protect his family at any cost to a trickster often bordering onbeing a manipulative criminal, the third movie of the Hindi Series settled foran entirely new storyline thus breaking away from the Malayalam version, butstill following the overall design and formulae of the franchises. Althoughpraise has been heaped upon Drishyam TheConclusion for being a gripping original movie, rather than being anadaptation, and the Malayalam Drishyam 3been criticised a bit for still sticking to the emotional angle of the family, thereare a few debatable points, concerning the Hindi version in particular, thatI’d like to bring in here. 

First, what has contributed to the huge success of theHindi version? In my view there are three primary factors: the generalfascination for the theme a head of family’s almost obsessive determination toprotect his family come what may; a gripping suspense drama as usual withpowerful performances by the ever-dependable Ajay Devgn and Tabu and the policecounterparts of the incredible Jaideep Ahlawat, brought in for this movie, andKamlesh Sawant who continues to be a terror for the family since the first film;and the eagerness created by the buzz of a fresh new storyline. All thesefactors have also influenced most of the critics to gloss over the apparentflaws and weaknesses of the movie and give positive reviews. I’m not aware ifthere’s been a debate in social media or other circles or not for what Iconsider to be a glaring technical flaw in script which makes the finalconclusion somewhat inconclusive.

In Drishyam 2 we saw how Vijay Salgaonkar, a cable operator used to the tricks and twists of formulacinema and played by Ajay Devgn since the first film, trespassed into theforensic labs, medical colleges and Church burial grounds in order tointerchange the skeletons so as to make the DNA test of the police inspectorgeneral’s only son Sameer, killed accidentally in the first film, null andvoid. Drishyam The Conclusion startswith the police SP Rajveer Singh played by Jaideep Ahlawat informing thestill-bereaved and revenge-seeking retired inspector general mother Meera Deshmukh’s(played by Tabu) husband Mahesh Deshmukh (played by Rajat Kapoor) aboutamassing crucial evidence by doing DNA tests on the skeleton still in policecustody and probing Vijay’s links with those connected people, leading to thereopening of the case. Accordingly, the SP in association with the fearsomeinspector Gaitonde (played by Kamlesh Sawant) visit the family’s home makingthem terror-stricken again. The movie gains the momentum, keeping the audienceguessing too.

Thanks to the clever secretive investigation and hardwork the police finally establish the identity of the skeleton as that of a boynamed Christopher Pinto who died of a similar head injury, but four years laterthan Meera’s boy Sameer Deshmukh that we saw in the first Drishyam. The SP’s team added more to their kitty of evidence by re-examiningthe secret surveillance recordings done on the Salgaonkar family by a policecouple posing as good neighbours whom we saw in Drishyam 2 and selecting a piece of crucial recording where Vijay’swife actually admitted to the accidental killing of Sameer. Thus bolstered withthe evidence the Deshmukh family engage a very aggressive and famous publicprosecutor, played by Prakash Raj, for a conclusive court fight to finally putthe family in jail. When the secret recordings were dismissed by the lawyer asnot admissible in court the SP promised to make the recording legal and courtworthy. A point to remember.

The DNA evidence gathered so painstakingly was neverdiscussed in all possible details with the public prosecutor whose heroics withthe legal recordings in court finallyfailed as Vijay pulled another of his endless tricks. Instead, he tried hishardest to get Pinto’s burial chamber excavated and succeeded in that too, butso unnecessarily as he never tried what he should have. Now, if the DNAevidence was considered not court-worthy as it was collected without theconsent of the concerned, then the recordings should’ve been consideredlikewise too, but for the SP’s intervention, and most agonizingly the SP didnothing in case of the conclusive DNA evidence. Okay, if we admit the DNA thustaken was inadmissible, then at least the identified parents of Pinto should’vebeen taken into confidence by the police SP for an instant decision with theirconsent in which case the Salgaonkar family couldn’t have escaped arrest andjail.

Unfortunately, and ironically too, if the storylinefollowed a logical course the new-original film wouldn’t have happened at all, forin that case the householder-made-superhero Vijay couldn’t have gone ahead withhis final twists in the film on which I’d keep absolute mum for obvious reasons.Thus the storyline in reality made absolute fools of two immensely giftedactors—Ahlawat and Prakash Raj—and actually wasted them in the supposedly mostpromising and stern roles.

Thus bereft of a logical flow the film suffers alsofrom an overly dialogue-driven storytelling with the compensation apparentlybeing given in terms of a very loud background score throughout. For the samereasons the film falls flat in the second half and the final twists hardlycontribute to what can be called a climax. Thus, overall, the movie leaves meand maybe a few of us including my wife disappointed. The first film that stillremains the best of the three for me so intensely entertained us that we madedo with all the make-believe twists and tricks of the protagonist in the secondand stood with the gripping franchise, but the final conclusion leaves usdisillusioned. 

Although Drishyam 3 inMalayalam is not so much favoured by the audience as well as the critics, I thinkthat film is more logical in its approach with the protagonist finally surrenderingto the police. Ironically again, as the Mammootty movie seems conclusive, butthere’s talk of having another sequel Drishyam4, the Hindi movie seems inconclusive and yet it’s supposed to be the finalchapter. But who knows! Anything can happen in the future! That Drishyam The Conclusive has proved to beAjay Devgn’s best-grossing movie so far, at crossing 300 crores domestically,many stakeholders could be enthused enough for more! No Final Conclusion thenfor either?

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Someonelaments inconsolably, ‘It’s no time to go! He had so many things to do!’ whichis quite a natural reaction in matters concerning death, irrespective of theage or the state of health or the circumstances surrounding the person. Thepain is always there, only the intensity might vary depending on how close toheart the person is to us, personally or otherwise. No doubt, the personal lossis the most intense one in any tragedy, often leaving the bereaved unable tohandle the pain. The screen icons or the celebrities become very close to us overthe years even though we never meet him/her at a personal level and thus theirpassing-away leaves us grieving and in shock. The loss of Nana Patekar is a veryintensely shocking pain to me at a personal level, although I never knew or methim personally; his screen images and performances endeared him to me over thedecades till I last saw him in Houseful5 movie just months before. Born as Vishwanath Patekar in Maharashtra, NanaPatekar passed away suddenly of a massive cardiac arrest early this morning inGoa and he could not be saved despite the best efforts of the doctors. A three-doctorpanel has been constituted to carry out the autopsy. He died at 75, but as wementioned before age is no consolation nor the auspicious Pitru Paksha demise nor the seemingly painless going-away, and onlymore regret that he was still very fit likeable and ever ready for newroles/jobs/philanthropy and so on. People keep on dying in the thirties or fortiesor the fifties or the sixties all around us and we have absolutely no controlover the ways of death; we can only feel the pain, grieve, at timesinconsolably.

In one ofhis significant early Hindi films Ankush (1986) in which Nana Patekar played the role of an unemployed youth in a groupof four I immediately identified with him, myself being in the prime of youthwith an idealistic bent of mind in the eighties, and was greatly influenced bythe film. The director of the film N Chandra made another film Pratighaat the very next year givingNana another significant role. Both of the low-budget movies based on socialissues were huge hits and Nana Patekar came to stay, although the film Gaman (1978) directed by Muzaffar Ali hadalready introduced the actor. In 1984 the vigilante movie Aaj Ki Awaz directed by Ravi Chopra established the versatile actoras a sinister villain in the role of an underworld crime lord. He continued toact in Marathi films in the meantime. I adored from the beginning hisunique-styled but natural acting with a novel rapid-fire dialogue delivery andalso his deadpan drawl at times, particularly in his suave villainous and comicroles. Every role he plays exudes raw power and girth or mirth as the case maybe, always unstoppable. There could be no role on earth that he couldn’t havedone justice to.

From thelate eighties to the nineties Nana Patekar never ceased to entertain andinfluence us. His unforgettable role of an unconventional villain in Parinda (1989) that got him his firstNational Award for the Best Supporting Actor, directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, tohis own directorial venture Prahaar (1991) where Nana played the role of an Army officer for which he had undergonea three-year infantry training course. In fact, in 1988 he joined the Indian TerritorialArmy as a captain and rose to the rank of a lieutenant colonel in the lateryears. The powerful actor had a string of superhits in those years, namely Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman (1992) where heshone in a comic role, Tiranga(1993), Krantiveer (1994) for whichhe got his second National Award for Best Actor and the epochal Agni Sakshi (1996) where he played aquietly ferocious obsessive husband that got him his third National Award forthe Best Supporting Actor. Mehul Kumar's action-thriller Kohram (1999) featured Nana Patekar with Amitabh Bachchan--the only movie of the two great stars together. 

The newmillennium did not lessen his performances in any way and he thrived in manypowerful roles in many commercially successful movies. Among the most prominentmovies are Shimit Amin’s Ab Tak Chhappan (2004) where he played a ruthless encounter cop, Prakash Jha’s Apaharan (2005) with Ajay Devgn, MilanLuthria’s Taxi No 9211 with JohnAbraham and Prakash Jha’s Raajneeti(2010) with Ajay Devgn and Ranbir Kapoor. The legendary character actor’s comicperformances then gained widespread mass popularity through movies Welcome (2007) and Welcome Back (2015) with Anil Kapoor among others. Four FilmfareAwards came his way among numerous nominations. He was also awarded Padma Shriin 2013. The actor also won several awards for his Marathi films including for Natsamrat in 2017. Nana VishwanathPatekar was active in films and in social activities till his last breathtoday.

Nana Patekarhas been known for his simplicity and down-to-earth nature; while among the mostprominent stars of Bollywood for decades he lived away from the world ofglamour and sleaze and worked tirelessly on his social charity projects. He particularlyfelt for the farmers in distress in Maharashtra and the flood victims in other stateslike Bihar too. His unique personality is not just limited to his reels, butalso in real life—he is angry and brutally frank, he doesn’t know beatingaround the bushes and never hypocritical; he cries, laughs, he grieves,wholeheartedly and I always tend to find a kind of sadness in his countenance. Ilove his body language and dialogue delivery style so much that I alwayscherish the experience should any artiste happen to impersonate or mimic him onstage or on screen. I knew an artist in Mumbai who used to mimic Nana on stageand I used to request him to do it for me whenever and wherever we met, and hedid oblige me on most occasions.

NanaPatekar will continue to live on the screens and in our hearts forever. The rawpower of one of the most powerful actors of Indian Cinema cannot ever witheraway. As his mortal remains are to be assigned to flames in Pune we join in theprayers for the eternal bliss of his noble soul. I salute the great artiste!https://chinmaycwrites.blogspot.com/f...

Well, it’sabout the announcement of the Groups and the full schedule made on October 1,2026, of the 14-Team ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup-2027 to be hosted by SouthAfrica, Zimbabwe and Namibia from October 2 to November 21 next year across 12venues. However, somewhat swayed by the never-ending hype surrounding the arch-rivalsIndia and Pakistan, the ICC mandarins being no exception to this rule, we tooare focusing on the match between them as to its when and where, in healthydisregard of the never-ending geopolitical rivalry between the two thatinterferes with the game in no healthy way—like embargoing the innocenthandshakes or robbing one of its deserving trophies. Yes! Cricket belieseverything—the game does inevitably unfold on the field whatever be the hasslesover it, and the fans love it even as all other stakeholders bring in thedough! So, the most sought-after mouth-watering group-stage match between Indiaand Pakistan is scheduled on October 10, 2027 in Johannesburg and the two teamsbeing in the same group there is every possibility of at least one more matchin the Super 7 stage. And lo! Add to it the Asian Games-2026 cricket Finalmatch between the two scheduled tomorrow in Nisshin, Japan from 10 AM IST afterIndia and Pakistan having defeated Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in their respectivesemi-finals.   

The ICC Men’sCricket World Cup-2027 in the usual 50-over format will have fourteen participatingteams—top-ranked eight teams having qualified automatically, South Africa andZimbabwe qualifying as co-hosts and the remaining four teams to be decided fromthe early next year. The winner of thequalifying tournament will join the World Cup groups directly while the losingfinalist along with the two losing semi-finalists will have a Super Series whichis a part of the World Cup-2027 schedule and will be held in Namibia fromOctober 2 to October 6. The top team from the series will fill the remainingspot. The start date of the world cricket tournament has been decided in honourof Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary.

The toptwelve teams of the tournament are being divided into two groups A and B withsix teams each. The top finisher of the qualifying tournament joins the GroupStage directly while the winner of the Super Series fills the last Group Stagespot as the sixth members respectively.

Here arethe two groups:

Group A               Group B

India                     New Zealand

Australia              South Africa 

Pakistan                SriLanka

Afghanistan         England

Zimbabwe            Bangladesh

QualifierA           QualifierB

The firstGroup A match that is also the start of the Group Stage action of the World Cupwill be between India and Australia on 7th October in Cape Town whichis being seen as a rehash of the World Cup-2023 Final. The first Group B match,again, will be between significant rivals—host South Africa and New Zealand on9th October in Cape Town. Co-host Zimbabwe will meet Afghanistan on11th October in Bulawayo. Zimbabwe’s new ground Victoria Falls isscheduled to hold the last Group Stage match between India and Zimbabwe on 24thOctober.

Top threeteams from each group progress to the Super 7 stage with the fourth best placedteam across the groups also featuring; no team is to carry forward the pointsearned at the group stage that means each team starts afresh. The Super 7 stagewill be played on a single-game round-robin format, meaning each team will playsix matches. The action starts from October 25 to November 14. The top fourteams qualify for the semi-finals. The team finishing on top of Super 7 willmeet the fourth placed team in the first semi-final on October 17 in Cape Townwhile the second and the third placed teams settle for the second semi-final on18th October in Tshwane. The Final is to be played in Johannesburgon 21st November. All the semi-finals and the final are given respectivereserve days in case of weather disruptions.

The ICCstarted a system of pre-seeding during the Men’s T20 World Cup-2024 and thisrule has been continued since, although often criticized by players and teams. Thejustification given by the ICC covers the areas of some planning and logisticsin determining venues and the slots for the Super Stage teams in advance whichalso helps fans, teams and broadcasters to make travel plans and book ticketsin advance. Per this rule of pre-seeding the following teams have already beenpre-seeded into the Super 7 stage with the pre-designed number tags:

A1:    India

A2:    Australia

A3:    Pakistan

AB4: England

B1:    New Zealand

B2:    South Africa

B3:    SriLanka

Now in the scenario of teams like Bangladesh or Afghanistan staging anupset by eliminating a pre-seeded team, the qualifying team will assume theposition and the tag of the displaced pre-seeded team.

So then, let’s wait for thebiggest celebration of world cricket to unfold next year at the exciting newcountries and venues even as the ICC promises to keep the ticket pricesaffordable so as to attract the largest number of cricket lovers and fansacross the world. 

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They’vebeen worried quite a bit for the last few months, for a doctor of a metro citywhere they lived regularly before having to move to another city for specialwork told his wife in no uncertain terms that cataract was developing in bothof her eyes and that in the coming three months she had to get the surgeriesdone. The doctor magnanimously suggested she had a good eye clinic and shewould space out the surgeries nicely, apart from giving his wife specialdiscounts on the fees. The husband and the wife discussed the issue in allpossible details as they could not avoid moving to the other city: he suggestedgetting it done in the other city as nowadays cataract surgeries are quite easyand risk-free to which his wife objected saying that as the lady doctor hasbeen very nice and understanding, she’d do it with her only; and finding herdetermined, if not adamant, he then decided to somehow visit their home cityin-between just to get it done and they both agreed playing with the eyes notadvisable at all.

Thethree-month deadline passed off, to their dismay and growing concern. It wasjust not possible to plan a visit amid all the priorities of work and otherhealth issues afflicting both of them—they agreed on that too.

But asolution must be found, he thought, lest the cataract harm his wifeirreparably. So he, with all the concern and empathy he was capable ofproducing, finally managed to convince his wife to visit an eye specialistnearby just to find out if it was getting dangerous, and if so, they’d rush totheir home city. Accordingly, an appointment was fixed with a specialist at thenearest health clinic.

Thegentlemanly doctor was very nice and seemed an expert in his field. He took alot of time to examine her eyes—first doing the preliminary test and thentelling her to wait in the lounge with eye-drops applied to both the eyes for adetailed survey.

To theirutter relief and big surprise as well, the doctor announced that there wasnothing wrong with her eyes and that cataract hadn’t yet developed—except forminor power changes. However, for the overall ocular health the good doctorprescribed a tablet to be taken daily for three months.

Back homehe couldn’t help himself but be critical of the happenings. “Look how thatdoctor lied to you…only to make some more money! And this doctor prescribedsuch a costly medicine! If everything is normal why the medicine? And why forthree long months and not two or four weeks only?”

The wifedismissed his concerns saying the good doctor must be protecting her eyes forthe future and that they must have faith in doctors rather than the distrust,usually linked to expenses.

After abouta week hence his wife began having uncontrollable itching and rashes almost allover the body. Since her allergy issue had always been there in some degreemore or less for many years, they thought perhaps the unusually tough summerthis time was the primary reason. But his wife expressed her desire to have anopinion of another good doctor she often visited for routing guidance and thelab tests.

The goodgeneral doctor listened to her issues very attentively and then suggested hervisiting a skin specialist. He also prescribed blood tests including anallergen test.

Theallergen test was very expensive and took days for the results. He was greatlyconcerned finding the report positive and the value extremely high. However, healso read in the internet that such values are mostly inconclusive. But theydid secure an appointment with the dermatologist at the next available date.

Thedermatologist was a handsome guy with glowing skin, occupying a revolving chairat his impressively furnished and well-illuminated chamber, reminding one moreof a beautician’s den rather than a doctor’s. He started examining the affectedskin of her hands and fingers, and immediately seemed to arrive at a logicalconclusion. We produced the profoundly mysterious allergen report on his desk;but, to our shock and related pain, he didn’t take even a single look at it,almost pushing it away. He also ignored prescriptions of other doctors, testreports and her medical history.

Instead, helaunched himself into an elaborate campaign of drawing circles and squares onhis notepad along with some wordy notations. He then declared that all the skincreams, moisturizers, hair shampoos and dyes and all the related cosmetics she’dbeen using since decades were all wrong and he started putting names of new andnewer brands in the circles and squares he prepared. Brands they never heard ofbefore. Must be only his favourites, he thought icily.

Something happenedat that moment that surprised him a lot: his wife gave him a look apparentlymaking a silent resolve to not follow the doctor’s advice. Normally a devoutunquestioning believer in doctors her sudden resolution was truly astonishingfor him.

As thehandsome fortyish doctor finished filling his sheets and all the talking, aperson entered the chamber. While waiting in the passage with the otherpatients he noticed this person moving in and out of the doctor’s chamber,often accosting the patients to the pay counter. A medical assistant or simplya broker? He speculated rather cruelly.

So, theperson accosted them now to the pay counter where another shock waited forthem: the handsome doctor with the glowing skin charged nearly three timeshigher than the other doctors of that medical centre.

As he paidwith a sullen attitude the person wrote his phone number on the prescription,promising all assistance if the medicines or rather the beauty products werenot available. The normally placid compounder there also came up as theyprepared to leave, requesting them to buy the products or medicines from theirin-house pharmacy and adding that all of those would be available. He now gotvery angry. He almost snubbed the compounder. “No! we’ll first check the pricesof these brands and then only will decide whether to buy or not!” and he movedout immediately gesturing his wife to follow. They never bought or tried themedicines. More than a month passed off.

He becameincreasingly worried as his wife’s allergy problems worsened further. He thengot an impulse that was clearly a result of his growing suspicions about themedical practitioners. He examined the tablet prescribed by the eye specialistand surfed the internet on its possible side effects. Several pages confirmedthat the said medicine does have allergy side effects like itching and rasheson sensitive patients. He told his wife. She decided to stop taking itimmediately, perhaps influenced by her husband’s constant suspicions anddistrust.

After a fewdays her allergy issues had been reduced quite significantly. They sat downtogether one evening and had an open discussion.

“Dear, doyou see the pattern? First the lady specialist lied about the onset ofcataract; then we went to the eye specialist here and he prescribed a costlymedicine without there being any need, realistically speaking; then we had togo consult your physician who prescribed an expensive test and referred you tothe skin specialist; and we had to go to the dermatologist who charged thricethan others, ignored the test reports, only trying to make us spend thousandsmore. So, in the process, haven’t we lost several thousand bucks sounnecessarily? All add up to the greedy doctors’ nexus: earning heftycommissions by prescribing the most expensive medicines, earning commissions bygiving unnecessary lab tests and earning more commissions by referring toothers of their fraternity! You see! Your otherwise nice and able physicianasks us to go for tests every month while we know that tests are to be done atthe most twice a year. You saw me refusing in his face to go for monthly tests!I also shudder at the thought of moving home and getting the surgeries done inthe healthy eyes!”

His wifewhile listening attentively said, “yes! No doubt they eye the commissions muchmore than before! But some of them are very good doctors too. We cannot affordto distrust all of them!”

“True! But it’sa goddamn dilemma! Because looking for a scrupulous doctor is like looking foran enlightened priest among the greedy many! And yes! Some are good doctors whoare very proficient in earning commissions too! So, it’s imperative to examineeven a good doctor’s prescriptions and advice. And it’s the unscrupulous unskilleddoctors we should avoid at all costs!”

His wifesmiled at him now. “Right! Didn’t you notice how effectively I dismissed thatbeauty parlour specialist?”

“Yes! Thankyou for that great decision! I also profusely thank you for not telling the eyespecialist about your vision history and what that other specialist said about thecataract! Had he known that he might have supported that flawed verdict just tohave the surgeries done under his network of commission agents! No?"

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Once upon atime there were two warring giants…nay…ThereAre two warring giants still at it in the country we the subjects live in!Both are veritable giants in their common yet separate playgrounds, no doubt! But the biggergiant of the two always wants to maintain its superiority and increase the margin further andfurther into the sky! The other not only wants to keep growing but wants tooutgrow its rival as fast and sooner as possible! In a way both the giants areobsessed with their competition of growth to beat each other and as an obviousconsequence of that obsession they’re basically very scared of losing ground even at the slightest and at times behave like absolute psychopaths. We wouldn’t really want tohighlight or elaborate such possible instances of psychic behaviour patterns aswe proceed on this story. The intelligent readers are thus going to have topinpoint the instances for their own sweet interpretation.

They havetheir own rather technically marked out territories with the respectivesubjects thereof. Or should we say customers?Nay! giants are supposed to be repressive, quintessentially; therefore, they’renever going to have customers, but only subjectsto be ruled over! Since we rejected the premise of ‘once upon a time’, we haveto stick to the present digital age of our country, and this singular fact putsthe subjects in a precarious position—whilebeing fully literate or even enlightened they somehow are not capable enough toavoid falling into the obsequious trap of being subjects!

We mustexplain why all the subjects of the digital kind are vulnerable to both thegiants despite belonging to digitally separated territories? The primary reasonbeing the concept of one world or a global community which literally unites thesubjects into one whole, meaning all the subjects invariably have theirsmartphones and other forms of ultramodern communication, and so they cannotescape the unending stream of calls messages emails podcasts AI videos orwhatever. Besides, we can also bring in the modern-day terms like portabilitydefection delimitation or whatever all of which essentially mean winning over. Therefore, we cannot denythe fact that virtually all the subjects of the country are under the directinfluences of the giants.

The twogiants thus have their designated employees eternally engaged in this game ofwinning over by offering greener pastures with heavy discounts in comparativecosts. Subjects keep on falling for the offers, thus helping the giants grow inthe never-ending process of outgrowing one another. Some unfortunate subjectsfind themselves pledged to both the giants; although delimitation cannot fullyexplain this phenomenon, the sought-after optimization of the digital choicesmakes it possible for them to enjoy the benefits of exploitation from both the giants.These benefits often make them cry hoarse for mercy! For their smartphonesreflect the contrary moves made by the two giants. The employees of each giantpossess an uncanny ability to recognize/detect calls from the other giant, andthey mask the calls as scam, thus encouraging or rather ordering the receiving subjectsto refuse answering. However, some mistakes do happen that add more woes to thesubjects. At times they deem some calls from genuine agencies as calls comingfrom the rival giant and thus the hapless subjects find themselves inembarrassing situations, missing some important calls or calls from a serviceprovider that they themselves put the orders for. Such repression, they moan!

The twogiants also have their very own hyperactive or even desperate CEOs or the ChiefEnforcement Officers. Occasionally, the CEO of one giant hits upon an idea tolaunch an elaborate campaign to steal chunks of subjects from the other giantand sends the texts/messages/emails/podcasts/deepfakes or whatever to not justthe common subjects due to delimitation but to the subjects as a whole. Immediatelythereafter, the CEO of the other giant too hits upon a similar idea and theconsequent texts/messages/emails/podcasts/deepfakes or whatever follow in anunfailing stream. Personal calls too never end from employees of the two giantsunder the dictatorial commands of the respective CEOs, making the receivingsubjects cringe and cry out that they’re quite happy under the rule of onegiant and do not want to defect or deport or eject to the other giant.

Meanwhile,the subjects of the country continue to suffer as ever. However, the story has to end here, technically ortactically or whimsically or whatever!

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RohitSharma has been emerging as a paradox of Indian cricket, as much for theuncertainty about his place in the playing eleven as for his sort of a plungeinto the television show business. This paradox is not less significant thanthe celebrated googly. The rollercoaster ads on his debut appearance as a hostin Sony Entertainment Television’s new show Family Full House With Rohit Sharma put this innocent writer ingrievous doubt about his future in the ODI cricket only which he’s been playingafter retiring from Test and T20 cricket. Has the national selector Ajit Agarkarfinally decided to shelve the superlative cricketer from Team India, so as toexclude him from the Indian squad being prepared for the World Cup-2027? However,the selector’s final decision to include him in the upcoming ODI Series againstthe visiting West Indies has indeed assured this writer as far as his place inTeam India is concerned, but put him in great confusion as his host-show waslaunched on 19th September, almost simultaneously. The confusionstems naturally from the fact that many cricketers start doing off-fieldassignments once s/he retires from all forms of the game—some becoming commentatorsand others doing shows. For example, Sourav Ganguly has been hosting shows onthe Bangla TV channels for years now. Therefore, how is the going toadjust between the two commitments, apart from all the brand ad campaigns?

No doubt, the handsome guy Rohit has a pleasant screen presence which has been apparent in all the storylineads he’s been doing, particularly after his spectacular performance as acaptain of Team India, leading his unbeaten team to the Final of the WorldCup-2023 and nearly winning it. The Hitman never took it very seriously toheart and led his team to glory in the ICC T20 World Cup in the very next yearand the ICC Champions Trophy in 2025. Unfortunately, his indifferentperformances in the subsequent Tests and ODIs raised questions about hisfitness and form with his age picking up and the World Cup-2027 looming large. Butof course, owing to the veteran’s huge contribution to the game and hisvaluable experience, the selectors continued to keep him in the ODI team aswell as Virat Kohli. In the recent ODI Series against England the Hitman provedhis special abilities that perhaps convinced Agarkar to stick with him.

Anyway, westick to his screen presence for the moment. During the ICC T20 World Cup-2026the lovable presence of the Hitman had always been with Team India and the fans,with the unending airing of the ‘repeat history, defeat history’ ad campaign. Hisvirtual presence might have enthused Surya Kumar Yadav to go on fighting it outand finally to lead team to the title, and then leaving the Trophy in Pakistancustody! Per the two episodes of the new show already telecast the fans and theaudiences have apparently lapped Rohit up as a good host too, lauding his comictiming as well as hi overall dialogue delivery. In those two episodes he’s alsohandled the usual stars of show business as efficiently as his teammates on thefield.

But questionsabout the likely conflict of commitments remain. Rohit Sharma has reportedlymade out a disciplined strategy to honour both the commitments—devoting everymorning to physical fitness and all-round cricket practice including strenuous netsessions and then spending rest of the day on shooting/production schedules. Buthow is he going to do justice to both the sectors with his new episodes totelecast on 26 and 27 September and the first ODI against the West Indiescoming up on 27th September, 2026? If reports are to be believed he’sfinished shooting many episodes in advance during the August-September break sothat no new episode needs to be on the floor till the West Indies Series isover.

But then,the current cricket season is packed with quite a few ODI series, apart fromthe other formats, leading up to the World Cup, and therefore, cricketpractice/training/nets is going to have to clash with the shoot/productionschedules during the coming year. This makes it somewhat risky for the BCCI tostick with him for the World Cup. Even if he’s made himself fully free for thecricket sessions, the distractions about his screen antics are definitely goingto play in his mind, possibly affecting his cricketing plays, particularlybatting. Sticking with MS Dhoni for the World Cup-2019 had misfired very badly,and we just cannot take another risk with Rohit who is crossing 39 in 2027. Thisalso raises one more concern. In the recent many matches we’d seen Rohitsitting in the pavilion for not being included in the playing eleven. This isalways a sorry sight, a player of his quality there but not playing and sittingit idly out. We fear more of such scenarios in the near future with bothRuturaj Gaikwad and Yashasvi Jaiswal included in the India squad.  

Millionsof fans would definitely not like to see their beloved Hitman just sit out therewithout any action on the field. The IPL rule of the Impact Player is not therein ICC cricket, and so, if Rohit is not included in the playing eleven hecannot do anything on the field. Finally, along with his fans, we’d also liketo see his giving his full commitment to cricket, at least till the ICC Men’s WorldCup-2027. The googly has to be played deftly. Now!

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The recent Khetri-Sonapur Traveler bus accident onNational Highway-27 that killed 7 people has put the menace of road accidentsin Assam as well as in India in sharp focus. Bad roads came to the fore as themain reason. And indeed, it was the immediate reason. In fact, a series ofaccidents had taken place in the stretch between Guwahati and Nagaon in recentmonths involving high fatalities, and the highway remained full of potholes,craters and unrepaired still. This agitated the local people who decided tohold protests on the highway day and night that led to temporary closure of theToll Tax gates which seem to be numerous despite the statutory regulationsabout their spacing. The State Government announced compensation and theNational Highways Authority of India (NHAI) was asked to undertake repairswithin a week.

The menace of road accidents in Assam has been risingsteadily since the last three years with the figure of total road accidentscrossing 9000 in 2024 and in just the first three months of 2026 it reachingover 4200 with more than 1000 deaths. Eleven people are losing their livesdaily due to road crashes in Assam while in India the daily death figure is501. What is more terrifying has been the increasing fatality rate in Assam—reportedlythe fifth highest in the country. Calculated per volume of vehicular trafficthe rate in Assam is 7.43 while the national average is 4.58. Assam also hasthe dubious distinction of accounting for more than 82% of the total roadcrashes taking place in the entire North Eastern region. No doubt, the surge ofdevelopment and urbanization has been much more in Assam in the recent years,resulting in high vehicular movement which, combined with bad roads, has madethe state the most accident-prone one. However, there are many more factorscontributing to accidents than only potholes-filled roads, and these factorsare of a pan-India nature rather than being only Assam specific.

Whenever we read or watch a news report about a roadaccident we invariably come across the expression, ‘the driver lost control ofthe vehicle’. Whether we drive or not, common sense tells us that a bike or acar or a heavy vehicle is much easier to control at the speed of about 80km anhour than when it’s running at breakneck 120km+ speed, should an obstaclesuddenly appear ahead on the road. The driver of an overspeeding vehicle wouldlikely not be able to maneuver a pothole that he failed to foresee in time thana driver going at a steady speed. This brings to us the problem of overspeedingthat has been universally accepted as the primary reason of road accidents, letit be in Assam or across India.  

Who are the drivers? Per various reports and dataavailable in the public domain people in the age range of 18 to 45, that issay, mostly Gen Z and Gen Y generations, constitute nearly 80% of all driversand they have been at the helm of driving, from bikes to all other vehicles,including the commercial cabs, passenger buses, tempos, and trucks. Youngpeople are always impulsive, full of energy and impatience, and they stop atnothing to surge ahead. If we narrow the age group down to 18 to 35 years ofage, then immediately we see how the bikers who are mostly of this age group accountfor nearly half of the total road accidents as well as of the fatalities. Thisis rampant in all the metros and cities of the country. Thanks to their highspirit and impatience, they often ignore safety measures like helmets andindulge in overspeeding and other wrongful practices like wrong-side driving orbreaking lane discipline. If we now expand the age-group to the earlier 18 to45, nothing changes much as far as the impulsive overspeeding and the relatedare concerned. Safety measures like even the basic seat belts are routinelyignored. However, there other more crucial factors to consider in this context.

An expert or a lucky driver can still successfullytackle road obstacles even while overspeeding; but unfortunately, drivers ingeneral can be under various other influences.

Smartphones are a major distraction for the driverswho indulge in calls, chats, viewing and scrolling while driving. With theirearphones plugged in expertly it is very difficult to detect them during checksif any.

They can also be under the influence of alcohol anddrugs or both. Abundant quantities of these being easily available and at cheaprates, the drivers, young or even older, are often unable to drive off thetemptations. The presence of traffic police and checks are never enough todeter them.

Stress is another very crucial factor: it can be socialstress of drivers struggling with broken dysfunctional families, always tryinghard but failing to make amends; frustration from not finding a job afterearning the degrees and taking up driving as a gig, probably not undergoingproper training and licensing procedure beforehand; and absolute povertyinflicting many of them that makes jobless people desperate to try anythingunder the sun—be an additional handyman or a conductor or just a help for afriend’s commercial bus or truck, always willing to do anything the friendasks, even driving bouts at times. Financial insecurity or distress makespeople depraved at times, ample blood-chilling examples of which we have beenwitnessing all around.

All these factors and influences combined withoverspeeding usually peak during the long night and the wee-hours drives whenmost crashes take place—anywhere, everywhere. During such lethal hours,drivers, even not under the influences of any kind, can still overspeed andcause horrifying crashes due to fatigue or a momentary dozing off. Unfortunately,no thoughts have been given to late night or wee-hours driving by theauthorities or the people in control.

As a contrast to the general scenario the oftenunder-aged VVIP/VIP brats are adding to the menace of road accidents bykilling/maiming pedestrians across the country. These dirty-rich brats arealways under the influence of the choicest alcohol and drugs, and joyridingtheir father-imported SUVs just for the so-called glamour of it, but they letloose a killing spree. The toll of pedestrians killed by the out-of-controlvehicles also forms a significant part of the total accident deaths.

We can never be sure if the driver of that ill-fatedmini bus at the Khetri-Sonapur portion of the National Highway was overspeedingor was under any of those influences. But we can be very sure on one count thattimely repairs of the highway could’ve prevented that accident and many otherspreviously. It is also a noteworthy fact that the Guwahati-Nagaon-Jorhatstretch of the highway accounts for a major share of the total road accidents,despite being only 10% of the total length of National Highways in Assam and thatthis highway is the only road connecting Guwahati, the hub of the North East,with eastern Assam. Therefore, why worthy attention by the government has notbeen given to this is another matter to ponder upon.

The said primarycause of road accidents, that is impulsive overspeeding, is rooted in us like perhaps corruption, and so, solutions to the problem are all the harder to find.Speeding seems to have been an increasing function of the focused expresswaysand highways development which is rather ironical. Therefore, normal measureslike the regular road safety week celebrations, putting up danger signs andboards along the nooks and corners, hefty increase in the penalties for trafficrule violations and even installation of space technology or CCTV cameras havenot yielded the desire results, for the simple reason that in an overpopulatedcountry implementation cum monitoring of most of the measures are well-nighimpossible.

Maybe, taking into account the huge  reawakening of the Indian youth, more initiatives from the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) that hasof late been creating a new kind of hope for the future of the country canreawaken the younger generations as a whole and inculcate in them the rightways to drive on. Once the drivers get full control of their lives, they can bein full control of their vehicles too. 
One thing is certain: nobody wouldprobably like to behold vehicles spiral out of control and mowing downeverything in front in the thoroughfares they have to frequent in the quest oflife and means.https://chinmaycwrites.blogspot.com/f...

Cricket isa game loved by the masses all over the globe and growing irrespective of theirdifferences—political or religious or whatever—and nationalities. The grand gentleman’s sport is a passion in Indiaand in Pakistan with fans waiting for their arch-rivals to meet as often aspossible over the decades, apart from the other most prominent arch-rivals pairof Australia and England. However, it’s unfortunate political rivalries havebeen damaging the spirit of the game in the Indian subcontinent—India, Pakistanand Bangladesh at loggerheads that is depriving the common people of all thethree countries to cherish the Tests/ODIs/T20Is on their own grounds. Yes!Neutral venues have been the ‘solution’ since quite a few years now. Nonetheless,Pakistan has been the worst affected due to the nation’s terror activities andtherefore, the ‘solution’ has also been failing to solve the issues amicably. Cricketfans just cannot afford to give up watching while the respective Boards cannotafford to take a stand thanks to the huge money angle that we’ve written abouta lot in these pages. Add to it the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) rules andschedules and its global championships/tournaments. The show must always go on!

Now, owing tothe huge money angle and the revenues generated by cricket, politics andpolitical leaders just cannot stay far behind, and politics in cricket isalways the crux of the problem. This is applicable to all the nationsconcerned, not just India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. And the respective cricketBoards just cannot be left alone handling the mammoth reservoirs of dough ontheir own and they cannot either take decisions in cricket matters involvingnational politics and policies thereof.

Why isMohsin Naqvi so unacceptable? For the simple reason that apart from being the Chairmanof the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the President of the Asian CricketCouncil (ACC) he is also the Interior Minister of Pakistan and per the standingpolicies or strategies of the country he too lambasted Operation Sindoorundertaken by the Indian Government to avenge the Pahalgam terror massacre. Suchterror acts cannot be accepted under any circumstances by any nation, and theenmity thus generated in the affected countries naturally casts a shadow overthe continuance of the sports relations between them. Therefore, the neutral venueof Dubai selected for the men’s Asia Cup-2025 and for the women’s Asia Cup-2026has failed to settle the issues. However, fans of the subcontinent includingthe respective patriotic jingoists of the nations concerned could still enjoythe matches on the TV screens and cheer the winners vociferously. The problemspeaked when both men’s and women’s India teams won the tournaments, but had toleave the Trophies behind!

Men’s TeamIndia defeated Pakistan in the Asia Cup-2025 Final in Dubai—a match without thehandshakes and full of gestures by players guided by the politics and policiesof the respective nations. The Champion team refused to take the Trophy fromthe hands of Mohsin Naqvi who too refused to nominate someone else as hethought himself to be the worthiest, being the Chairman of PCB and President ofthe ACC. Only the other day when Team India won the women’s Asia Cup-2026 Finalagainst Sri Lanka in Dubai they too refused to accept the Trophy. Because theworthiest fellow was again there to present it! Apart from being the worthiesthe must’ve felt to be the most grudge-heaviest as his team failed to clinch thetrophy on both occasions. And the Indian Teams and the fans celebrated withoutthe trophies! No less cheers though, as far as the ‘rivalries’ are concerned!

The ACCsays India is welcome to collect the Trophies any time they feel like! But wedon’t see that happening soon, unfortunately. Therefore, trophies are piling upin Pakistan and this doesn’t augur well for the future! Although there’s stilltime for the next men’s Asia Cup in June-July, 2027, the current geo-politicalsituation cannot guarantee any solution in the near future. Considering theform Team India has been in since the recent few years in both of the shorterformats another Asia Cup trophy cannot be ruled out! Women’s Asia Cup will alsobe due in 2028! The best at the moment for the Pak Interior Minister would beto focus on nominating the next worthy person to deliver the trophies to therighteous winners; on nation building with the economics of development withoutliaising with the terrorists, rendering more justice to Pakistan’s ‘mediator’role to end the Trump-Iran war; and also to focus more on the woes afflictingthe Pak cricket team for the last few years and on how to improve theperformance of the players on the cricket field. That the Asia Cup-2027 is tobe hosted by Bangladesh in Bangladesh is going to be another gnawing bone ofcontention, for, as we said before, neutral venues can no longer settle the issues.

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