Calling the bluff: The charm of an India-Pakistan cricket contest has died but whose loss is it anyway?

Was Sunday’s India vs Pakistan clash ever not going to happen?I don’t think anybody directly involved with cricket administration was in major doubt. It was always a matter of who would blink first. From that standpoint, Pakistan latched onto the first opportunity they got to find a way back into the ecosystem.Look at the sequence of events…Last week it did not take the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) more than 90 minutes after the conclusion of these so-called talks with the ICC to go back to the Prime Minister and get a go-ahead for the game. It’s remarkable for a cricket board to have that kind of access to the PMO — that you can knock on his door at 11:30 at night and, within half an hour,...