Thank you for the finger salute, Pakistan

In a show of collective outrage against the ghastly celebrations of the Pakistan hockey team that gave finger salutes to the crowd after defeating host India in the semifinals of the Champions Trophy, social media was abuzz with anti-Pakistan messages. Television channels saw to it that Pakistani players involved in showing disrespect to the crowd were suspended for a match. And in an epic overreaction, India's hockey body suspended all bilateral tournaments until Pakistan tendered an unconditional apology. 

This isn't the most famous middle finger shown by a sportsman within the Indian sports scenario. When we talk about fame and sports, do we really need to mention that we're talking about cricket? Virat Kohli, who is leading Team India in Australia, had given a booing Australian crowd a much talked-about finger salute in the last tour. Did Australians suspend cricketing relations with India? They might have, if Australian cricket had been in the same condition as Indian hockey. 

We should not be surprised when the Suhel Seths of our country tell former hockey stars like Viren Rasquina that they don't know them. Nobody watches hockey. How would they know the players, that too former players? Think about this. The Indian hockey team reached the semifinals of a Champions Trophy, narrowly missing out on defeating Pakistan to reach the finals. But, we were busy watching a cricket test, analysing the cause of the loss and whether Dhoni should be replaced by aggressive Kohli in captainship. The Champions Trophy only came to national reckoning when India lost the semifinals to Pakistan. We fell way short of analysing the defeat as a few overenthusiastic players showed their middle fingers to an Indian crowd. Everything came to a standstill as the nation came together to punish the insolent players who had the guts to make an obscene gesture to an Indian crowd despite being Pakistani.

It is a hypothetical question, but an important one, that if an Australian player had shown the finger, would India have reacted in the same way? Would the hockey body have suspended relations with the Australians? I doubt it.

The truth is that we care a dime about hockey. Because our sports administrators care a dime about making it popular. 

We must admit that had the Pakistani players not displayed such behaviour, the Champions Trophy would have gone unnoticed. So, instead of bashing them, we should be thankful that they brought some excitement to a game that is looked down upon by our cricket frenzied nation. 

As far as suspending hockey relations with Pakistan is concerned, India should instead organise more games with the neighbouring country to popularise the sport on a national level. 

A little excitement, a hard fought game and some thrilling celebration won't hurt hockey, at least in India.