Cricket diplomacy

Cricket is the second-most widely played game in the world after football, and is thus used as a political tool to bridge gaps in diplomacy between competing countries.

The situation escalated into a diplomatic incident between the countries as the MCC— supported by the British public and still of the opinion that their fast leg theory tactic was harmless — took serious offence at being branded "unsportsmanlike" and demanded a retraction.

[1] Captain Douglas Jardine, and by extension, the entire English team, threatened to withdraw from the fourth and fifth Tests unless the Australian Board withdrew the accusation of unsporting behaviour.

The Governor of South Australia, Alexander Hore-Ruthven, who was in England at the time, expressed his concern to British Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs James Henry Thomas that this would cause a significant impact on trade between the nations.

[5][6] There were significant consequences for Anglo-Australian relations, which remained strained until the outbreak of World War II made cooperation paramount.

[10][11] Furthermore, in 2004 after a break of fifteen years, India toured Pakistan in the wake of diplomatic initiatives to bury half a century of mutual hostility.

In 1991, the workers of the Indian political party Shiv Sena dug up the cricket pitch at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on the eve of an India-Pakistan Test match which was to be held there, forcing the entire series between the two nations to be cancelled.

Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh used this opportunity and greeted his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani to watch the match with him at Mohali.

[18][19] In 2015, Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani requested the Indian government to allocate a cricket stadium for the Afghan team in India.

China, which has built large embassies in each of the islands, now has a bigger diplomatic presence in the Caribbean than the United States, the superpower next door."

[22] The event began with the two prime ministers singing the national anthems of their respective countries and shaking hands with the players of both teams.