{"id":835564,"date":"2025-03-20T13:13:40","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T18:13:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/20\/pakistanis-gather-in-karachi-to-watch-india-clash-on-big-screen\/"},"modified":"2025-03-20T13:13:40","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T18:13:40","slug":"pakistanis-gather-in-karachi-to-watch-india-clash-on-big-screen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/20\/pakistanis-gather-in-karachi-to-watch-india-clash-on-big-screen\/","title":{"rendered":"Pakistanis gather in Karachi to watch India clash on big screen"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

KARACHI: On a sandy tract of land along Karachi\u2019s coastline, hundreds of Pakistani cricket fans gathered in front of a big screen to watch their cricket team battle arch-rivals India<\/a> in the Champions Trophy on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Encounters between the two countries bear the scars of four wars and rank among the most-watched sporting events in the world.<\/p>\n

Those watching in Karachi expressed disappointment because the game was originally meant to be played in Pakistan until India refused to travel across the border, citing government advice.<\/p>\n

\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cMy dad is a fan of cricket. He\u2019s obsessed\u2026 ever since he found out he said he wanted to watch so I found this screen,\u201d said Awal Khan, 40, who works as a cook and paid nearly $2 to travel to the venue, a high cost for most Pakistanis.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t like that India didn\u2019t come\u2026 I\u2019ve never been to the stadium but if India comes to Pakistan I will definitely go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/figure>\n

For more than a decade, Pakistan and India have played only in multi-team events because of a strained political relationship. Pakistan went to India<\/a> for the 2023 ODI Cup and expected India to return the favour by touring for the Champions Trophy.<\/p>\n

Their once closely contested rivalry has grown more one-sided over the years. India have prevailed in seven of the eight completed ODIs in the last decade against Pakistan, with their last loss coming in the final of the previous Champions Trophy in 2017.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re excited about the Champions Trophy but double excited for the Pakistan-India match,\u201d said Raheel Sayeed, a 28-year-old engineer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ll see Pakistan versus India in Pakistan any time soon. Both governments don\u2019t want peace, especially India.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/figure>\n

Along another stretch of the Arabian Sea on an upscale promenade, hundreds more were slowly growing dejected as India took control of the match.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Pakistan loses I\u2019ll be sad. But we have to have hope and we have to pray. But prayers aren\u2019t enough,\u201d said Zakira Bilal, 26, who came to watch the broadcast with her three young children.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn our way here in the rickshaw, we discussed how Pakistan shouldn\u2019t go to India to play when they don\u2019t come here. Self-resp\u00adect should be there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KARACHI: On a sandy tract of land along Karachi\u2019s coastline, hundreds of Pakistani cricket fans gathered in front of a big screen to watch their cricket team battle arch-rivals India in the Champions Trophy on Sunday. Encounters between the two countries bear the scars of four wars and rank among the most-watched sporting events in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":835565,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35983,45289],"tags":[18906,45288],"class_list":{"0":"post-835564","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-gather","8":"category-pakistanis","9":"tag-gather","10":"tag-pakistanis"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=835564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/835565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=835564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=835564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=835564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}