'It is like rubbing salt on our wounds'

BHUBANESWAR: On April 22, Priyadarshini Satpathy from Odisha's Balasore lost her husband, Prashant, to terrorists' bullets in Pahalgam. Less than five months later, India taking on Pakistan in Dubai Sunday felt like salt in her wounds, she said. "If not for us, the match should have been cancelled in memory of jawans who are sacrificing their lives on the border."

Social media was awash with hashtags like #BoycottIndVsPak and #NationFirst, as many fans decided not to watch the match in solidarity with the Pahalgam victims. Odisha Congress president Bhakta Charan Das said on X, "I boycott today's #IndiaVsPakistan cricket match in solidarity with the families of Pahalgam terror attack victims." Motivational speaker Vivekananda Mohapatra said, "The question that resonates across Odisha and beyond is whether blood and cricket can flow together. The question reflects the deep intertwining of cricket with national identity."