E-Paper
Sign In
Dubai: Indian sports journalists floored by Pakistani hospitality in Lahore
Pakistani cricket fans are even ready to help Nikhil Naz, whose grandparents moved to India in 1947, find his ancestral home in Bhera
- PUBLISHED: Thu 6 Mar 2025, 9:13 PM
India may have refused to send their cricket team to Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy, but a few senior Indian sports journalists have returned from Lahore with a bag full of memories.
Nikhil Naz and Vikrant Gupta, who are in Dubai to cover India’s matches at the high-profile 50 overs tournament, decided to apply for Pakistan visa even after the ICC (International Cricket Council) announced that Dubai would host all matches featuring India.
Recommended For You
Gupta knows what it’s like to travel to Pakistan for cricket, having followed the Indian team on their 2004 and 2006 tours.
A household name in northern India, Gupta is a prominent voice whose cricket shows on Aaj Tak, a Hindi language news channel, have earned him an even bigger fan following in Pakistan.
For Naz, a trip to Pakistan transcended the boundaries of cricket as he wanted to trace his roots.
Author of the cricket book, Miracle Men: The Greatest Underdog Story in Cricket, Naz wanted to find out more about a small town in the Punjab province of Pakistan from which his grandparents walked for 13 days in extreme conditions during the 1947 partition to start a new life in India.
Having got the visa stamped on their passports in New Delhi, they flew to Dubai for India’s first two matches against Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Then they used the seven-day gap between India’s second game, the blockbuster clash against Pakistan on February 23, and the third game against New Zealand on March 2, to fly to Lahore.
Without knowing what to expect, especially after the mud-slinging between the two countries over India’s refusal to play in Pakistan, Gupta and Naz arrived in Lahore only to be floored by the love showered on them by Pakistani fans.
Sana Ullah, a Pakistani sports journalist who had met Gupta and Naz several times during ICC events abroad, always knew how his countrymen would welcome the two Indian journalists.
“I never thought I would be able to meet them in my own country. But I always knew how popular they were in our country, so I told them that 'you would be surprised to see the people’s response to your visit',” Ullah said.
“They didn’t believe me. So, I took them to a historical place in Lahore and a crowd of around 1500 people turned up to meet them.”
Gupta, who had experienced the Pakistani hospitality twice in the past, said his third visit to the country was by far the most memorable of them all.
“I think India and Pakistan, have had mutual admiration for each other. And I had seen it before in 2004 and 2006 when I went there with the Indian team,” he said.
“But I think this time, what I saw was exceptional because for so many years, India and Pakistan have not played each other in Pakistan.
“Yet the craze people had there for Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and the Indian team was unprecedented.
“And, you know, as a byproduct of that Indian cricket system, the players were not there and so they showered that love on us, the Indian journalists as well.
“It was also a validation for Indian cricket. I think it’s because of how they look at India in terms of cricket and they are fascinated by this new India.”
During their three-day stay in Lahore, both Gupta and Naz were invited to television shows. The theme in one of the shows was very interesting.
“When I was doing a show with former Pakistan cricketers Inzamam ul Haq and Saqlain Mushtaq, they narrated interesting stories about how their families came from the Indian side,” Naz said.
‘So that show was interesting because I was the guest from India who had roots in Pakistan and there were these two Pakistani guests, Saqlain and Inzamam, who had roots in India.”
But it was during another show that something truly remarkable happened.
“In the other show, I was with two other Pakistan cricket stalwarts, Mohammad Yousuf and Shahid Afridi when the host asked me about my grandparents’ hometown in Pakistan. When I said it was Bhera (in Punjab province), moments later, I had messages on my Instagram, with people from Bhera asking me to send the details, so they can help me find the exact location,” he said.
“I've sent them all details of my grandparents, my great grandparents, their names, where they stayed, the son's name. Then one of them sent me pictures of the locality. Another guy told me if I want to bring my mother, the whole town will welcome us.”
Naz is still overwhelmed by the affection he received in Pakistan.
“Of course, I know the Punjabi hospitality, I am a Punjabi and I've experienced that in Punjab in India, but I have to say, what I experienced in Pakistan was incredible, just incredible,” he said.
“They're just very hospitable people. I'm no geopolitics expert, but this is just people-to-people contact and I will never forget their warmth. It’s a whirlpool of emotions for me now.”
Naz’s parents were born just after both sets of his grandparents had moved to India.
“I heard from my paternal grandmother, all the stories she would always narrate. They walked for 13 days to cross the border, 13 days of walk. And when they got there, they didn't know who to meet, they were in refugee camps,” he recalled.
Now Naz wants to visit Pakistan again where hundreds of people could be opening their doors and hearts to him and his mother.
“When I go back to India, maybe I will apply for the Pakistan visa for my mother because she really craves to see her parents’ hometown,” he said.
“And my mother is a religious person as well, there are a few Gurudwaras she wants to visit in Pakistan. So it would be wonderful if I can take her to those Gurudwaras and her hometown.”
Rituraj Borkakoty is Sports Editor and has spent more than two decades writing on his sporting heroes. He also loves an underdog story, so if you have one, share it with him. He would love to bring it to life.