"Its Cricket! Lets Leave it at that".

India vs Pakistan games are always important, gone are the days when it was war like on the pitch and those of "Playing for Pride". Today India Vs Pakistan is a contest between Bat and Ball.

The recent times has seen India and Pakistan playing facing each other too often, experts believe that this is taking the fun out of the game. The recent statement made by former Pakistancaptain and bowling Legend Wasim Akram, is a indicative of a fact that the spice has just slipped out of the matches. Speaking at the Castrol Asian Cricket Awards ceremony in Karachi, Wasim was quoted saying " People have started talking about Indo-Pak matches as just another game”. One thing which is clear is that Mr.Akram and the people have forgotten that cricket is played with bat and ball and not with lips and media hype.

In recent memory the best on pitch altercation (apart from the Sreesanth dance, in South Africa) comes from a game in Multan some fours years ago, a unforgiving Verender Shewag was on song and Shoiab Akthar reintroduced into the atack kept on bowling into his ribs telling him to Hook/Pull.  The boy in Sehwag just said " tu bowling kar raha hai ya bikh mag raha hai"("are you bowling or begging?").Very recently suresh Raina had similar word for Sohail Tanviron his way to a second consecutive big innings in Karachi.        

The 'cricket diplomacy' which started back in 2003/04 seems to have come down to just cricket now. The politics that held back the cricketing ties between the arch rivals has finally taken back seat and the game is flourishing.

To be fair to Cricket and to be fair to ourselves the commercial aspect of cricket at times makes money bigger than the game itself. Something similar has happened between India and Pakistan. The balance sheets of the series played between them is example as to how money is taking lead now. The monetary loss that happened to the World Cup in West Indies is just one example.

But if we leave the Money and politics out, cricket is still a contest between the Bat and Ball. Whatever the world of cricket might become the contest would remain same. And when it comes to that India Vs Pakistan matches always have records to show. The best players are those who perform is difficult situations be it an India Pakistan game or an India Australia one. To win a match you've got to do the basics right, Bat, Bowl, Field well. The best players and teams are not those who perform where 'Pride' is at stake, but where a match is. The contest between bat and ball is the pillar of the game and a nuke bomb proof one.

So if "people" feel that Indo-Pak games are becoming "Just another games", I have every reason to believe that the Cricket is not being effected.