Tiranga or the Union Jack?

It was 9.30 pm in Edgbaston and the presentation had just ended after a thrilling Champions Trophy final. The Indians had completed their victory lap and were gradually making it back to the confines of the dressing room. Outside, however, the party was just about to begin. As I walked out of the media gate, E3, to walk to the car park and get going on the drive to Oxford, I was confronted by a sea of blue. It was simply an Indian takeover of Edgbaston. There was a human chain with close to a 1000 people and each of them was singing 'Hum Honge Kaamyaab'. In front of the main entrance to the stadium there were hundreds of Indian fans dancing to the tune of 'Chak De India'. Men and women who didn't even know each other were hugging each other in sheer delight. As I managed to navigate my way to the car park, I could not but help think back to Mohali and the India Pakistan semi-final in the 2011 World Cup. Birmingham and Mohali have very similar roundabouts and intersections and just like in Mohali in March 2011, at Edgbaston last Sunday 23 June 2013, every roundabout had been taken over by jubilant Indian fans dancing to the tune of drums and other music. Interestingly, this wasn't the first time that such a thing has happened. I remember seeing similar crowd passion at the home of English cricket, Lord's, in 2009. India was playing England in the second edition of the World T20 on 14 June 2009. Lord's was awash in a sea of light blue. It did not stop there. Just as Paul Collingwood's side came out for a pre-match warm-up at the Nursery Ground just behind the media centre, they were booed and jeered by a section of the crowd. England, the home team, was booed at the home of English cricket. The home advantage had been surrendered and the significance of the act was not lost on the English captain, who mentioned at the post-match conference that his side was hurt at such crowd behaviour. The very same crowd reaction was repeated at Edgbaston last Sunday. As the names of the two sides were announced in the loudspeaker, M S Dhoni's name evoked the loudest cheer and Alastair Cook's a series of boos. The Indian takeover of Edgbaston has once again brought the question of fan ethics to the fore, inevitably bringing to mind Norman Tebbit's 'cricket test' of two decades ago. (Tebbit, a Conservative British politician, had advocated this test.) The question: who do British Asians support in cricket? And if they support India in a match against England, do they have the right to identify themselves as British citizens? Also, if they support India, is it an act of betrayal? British Asian support for India clearly rankles with many and is central to debates on cricket following in England. For this lot, British Asian support for India is unequivocally an act of 'betrayal', and they see these Asian communities as 'the enemy within'. But British Asians I interviewed at Edgbaston consider this outcome a logical fallout of the discrimination they have been subjected to for years. "We have hardly been included in the mainstream of society on occasions. Such marginalisation will inevitably lead to discontent. The cricket field is the best place to manifest it," was the common sentiment. Many find it unnatural that they will either have to be 'British' or 'Asian' when it comes to watching cricket and that notions of 'dual ethnicity' or 'cultural hybridity' are lost on the upper and middle-class English who continue to cling to quaint notions of Englishness. Most of these British Asians support England when it comes to football. "India is no good at football and we will surely support England. But when it comes to cricket, we know the Indians can provide answers to our suffering, the discrimination we have been subjected to for years. It is only natural we will support India." These reactions draw attention to problems rooted in the multicultural demographics of the UK. Had these 'immigrants' been integrated with the mainstream of British society, who they support in these games would have become a non-issue. But that is not how things stand, and the sense of being discriminated is real among large sections of immigrant Asians. This point of view was borne out by the group of Indian supporters signing 'Chak De India' at Edgbaston: "We are aware that we are in this country to work and earn a living. In an age of globalisation, our skill sets have allowed us to do so. The upper-class English have done us no favour by giving us jobs. Rather, we are plying our trade here because the locals are lacking in these skills. So, we'll always behave like migrants who continue to have their roots elsewhere and will support the country of our ancestors." Interestingly enough I had thought the situation had changed for the better during the 2012 London Olympics. It was fascinating to watch white Britishers cheer for Mo Farah, a Somali refugee, as he went on to achieve the incredible double of winning the 5000 and 10,000 meters at the London Games. But the post Edgbaston discussion has once again brought to the fore the questions, "Will England ever become truly multicultural? Will it ever happen that a father continues to support India while the son, born and raised in an England that is open and truly multicultural, backs his home nation?" For the moment such a scenario looks a distant dream. In 2014 at least (when the Indians play a full series in England next), the Indians are assured of huge support wherever they play. So much so that England will have considerably less support at most venues. Does this support really matter to the players? Indeed it does. Ishant Sharma has openly thanked the crowd for standing by him when he bowled that fascinating 18th over in the final against England. Most other players feel the same and some have even suggested that it helped a great deal at crucial moments in the final. As we think back to the Champions Trophy and what impact it will have on the future of Indian cricket, the contentious issue of crowd support will continue to be at the centre of intense media scrutiny. This is because patterns of crowd behaviour answer a lot of crucial questions on issues of identity, multiculturalism and pluralism in Britain. While these issues appear far removed from the sport itself, passionate British Asian support for India has ensured that they are at the core of public discourse and will continue to be so going forward.