Sore losers - India and Pakistan react to the match the same miserable way

Be it India or Pakistan, the way either country reacts to the outcome of something as paltry as a cricket match is worrisome.

In an unexpected (mostly by Indians) twist of events, India managed to experience a spectacular loss at the hands of its neighbour Pakistan, in the finals of the ICC Champions Trophy. Whether it was a tough pitch, incompetence, or bad luck, India unfortunately did not manage to come close to Pakistan’s score of 338 runs.

It is natural for people to feel either jubilant or disheartened because of the match’s results, depending on what side of the border you reside in, but there is an ideal way to express your emotions, right? Clearly, neither country knows how to do that.

According to a report in Dawn, at least seven people received bullet injuries after celebratory shots were fired in different parts of Karachi, because of Pakistan’s victory in the finals. And of those seven were a child and a woman.

"We received seven people with bullet wounds at several government hospitals in Karachi,” said police surgeon Dr Aijaz Khokhar, who clarified that none of the injuries were lethal.

That wasn’t all. Shariq Ishtiaq, a DSNG engineer, sustained bullet wounds thanks to a group of unknown people firing guns outside the residence of Pakistan team’s captain Sarfraz Ahmad. A five-year-old called Husain Raza was hospitalised after receiving a bullet wound in his abdomen. According to JPMC executive director Dr Seemin Jamali, his condition is said to be serious.

Aerial firing incidents were not limited to Karachi. According to the same Dawn report, at least six people sustained injuries from stray bullets in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Mardan district, where Fakhar Zaman, the star of the final match, resides.

So much for happy celebrations, eh?

And if joy can be injurious, sadness definitely can be, as well.

According to various reports, Indians have been venting their anger out on television sets. It is definitely not a new phenomenon. Time and again, the price for the Indian cricket squad’s incompetence in the field has been paid by innocent television sets.

Haridwar in Uttarakhand saw residents breaking their TVs amid angry chants against Indian cricketers, as did people in Ahmedabad. Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, on the other hand, saw fans burning posters of Virat Kohli, Ashwin and Yuvraj Singh, among other players.

To top it all, security had to be beefed up at MS Dhoni's Ranchi residence for fear of angry mobs and stone-pelters.

It’s just cricket, folks. It’s a sport. There are always wins and losses. Learn to deal with it. Neither victory nor loss should result in such violent behaviour. Both India and Pakistan turn pretty sour after a loss at each other’s hands. Cricket fans on both sides of the border really need to understand that it is just not that big a deal.

In some ways, both India and Pakistan are exactly alike. And nothing brings that out like a cricket match.

Also read: Pakistan played their best cricket in years and India the worst in recent times