Ibrahim thinks that the New Zealand team that will play against India in the Champions Trophy final in Dubai today is also Indian in some way. The game will actually be played between Indians. After hearing the taxi driver's words, I couldn't help but look at him. Ibrahim is smiling and keeps saying, 'Cricket is the game of Indians. If you look at all the other countries that play cricket, you will find that some of their ancestors are Indians. There may be some Pakistanis too.'
It felt good not to go along with this strange thought. There are so many Indians in Dubai that any foreigner here might think that there is no other country in South Asia except India. The fact that Ibrahim is also considering Pakistan is more important.
However, his disdain for other cricket-playing countries in Asia is palpable. It is especially difficult for a Bangladeshi to accept the fact that Bangladesh is not mentioned as a cricket country. When he said that several other countries in Asia like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka also play cricket, Ibrahim commented, 'Nepal also plays. Who counts them? Actually, India is the last word.’
Finally, as a fortune teller, he also said that India will be the champion in the final today. The discussion did not progress further as the taxi reached the stadium. He was not told that New Zealand has won the Champions Trophy only once and that was against India in the final. Whenever they get to the final of an ICC tournament, they beat India.
After the Champions Trophy in 2000, they also won the Test Championship in 2021. So far, New Zealand has won two of the finals of 6 ICC events, defeating India. New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner, who came to the press conference yesterday evening, even talked about three out of three, ‘Hopefully we will be lucky for the third time.’
778.709 SRY