In 1952, India and Pakistan first played against each other in a test match that India won by an innings. Since then their storied rivalry is marked by an intensity which few other sporting contests in the world evoke. In an era when there are no bilateral series between the two, they only meet at multilateral events like the ICC World Cups and Champions Trophy, or the Asia Cup. There has been no test cricket between the two since 2007, limiting the rivalry only to white ball cricket.
There have been periods of domination by either side, and periods of virtual parity when one couldn’t be picked over the other. Head- to- head, Pakistan leads in both the tests (12-9 out of 59) and ODIs (73-58 out of 136), whereas India is ahead in the T20 format (10-3 out of 13).
It is a travesty, as a lot of us grew up when the frenzy of an India-Pak game was at its peak, fuelled by the exploits of champion cricketers like Imran Khan, Sunil Gavaskar, Zaheer Abbas, Javed Miandad and Kapil Dev etc. My first vivid memory of India-Pak contests is from the1982-83 season, when India toured Pakistan. It was vacation time in December, which we usually spent at our village. As a 10-year-old hooked to cricket, I’d sit glued to the television all day. Imran Khan took 40 wickets in that test series, which Pakistan had won 3-0.
Around this time, Sharjah became a venue for regular games under the CBFS (Cricketers Benefit Fund Series), organised by the enterprising Sheikh Abdul Rehman Bukhatir. The contests were nail-biting, even heart-stopping at times. Once, in the Rothman’s 4-Nations Cup in 1985, India was bowled out for 125, with Imran taking 6 for 14 with those banana inswingers. India came back and dismissed Pakistan for 87, with Kapil Dev taking 3-17 and Gavaskar taking 4 catches in the slips. That defence stood as a world record for the lowest total defended in an ODI till only last week when the USA defended 122 against Oman.
Not many have forgotten the last-ball six by Miandad in Sharjah on the 18th April, 1986 in the final of the Austral-Asia Cup. That one shot was to traumatise an entire generation of cricketers and fans, and after that India couldn’t win a game against them for a while, especially at Sharjah!
In the late 80s and the 90’s, the teams met more often. Pakistan had the better of India in this era, mainly due to their superior pace attack. In the World Cups it was a different story, as India always found a way to win. In the quarter-final of the ’96 World Cup, Ajay Jadeja’s brutal take-down of Waqar Younis in the death overs became part of folklore, as did the duel between Aamir Sohail and Venkatesh Prasad.
In the mid-90s, Indo-Pak cricket went to Canada too, in the form of the Sahara Cup. 1999 saw some iconic moments of this rivalry. Pakistan toured India for two test matches, with a third test also thrown in as part of the Asian test championship. Kumble took all 10 wickets in an innings at the Kotla in Delhi and India won. Then Pakistan beat India by 16 runs in Chennai.
Games between these teams are sold out within minutes even today, and fans travel from far and wide to watch these games wherever they are held. It is also the ICC’s cash cow, generating the most revenue for broadcasting and advertising. For games held as far afield as the West Indies and the US, fans travel from India and Pakistan to watch. Such is the allure that for the India-Pak game in the 2019 ODI World Cup held in England, there were 800,000 ticket applications.
The fervour is still at its peak, but recent results point towards a domination by India. Although overall statistics favour Pakistan, mainly on account of the victories in the past when they dominated the rivalry in the 80’s and 90’s, recent history is different.
In ODI World Cups, India has beaten Pakistan every single time starting with their first encounter in 1992 in Sydney, giving it an 8-0 record. In T20 World Cups, Pakistan has beaten India only once, at Dubai in 2021 when they won by 10 wickets. The head-to-head in T20 World Cups is 7-1 in India’s favour, and combined it stands at 14-1. That is a hugely lopsided domination. This has given India the edge in recent times and going into any game India starts as favourites.
Pakistan has hardly competed in games against India in the last few years, with the T20 win in Dubai being the sole exception. The game at Melbourne in the T20 World Cup in Oct 2022 was almost in the bag for Pakistan, till Virat Kohli’s genius took it away from them. That day Kohli transcended greatness and entered the realms of divinity. No two shots off successive balls have been written or talked about as much as his successive sixes off Haris Rauf in the 19th over, especially the first six straight down the ground. He did to Pakistan that day what Miandad did to India in Sharjah in 1986. Since then, India have only widened the chasm between the two.
The game India won against Pakistan at Dubai in the current Champions Trophy only demonstrated how big the gap is between the two. India cantered to a six-wicket win with plenty to spare, both in wickets and overs. Pick of the day was Virat Kohli, who rose to the occasion as only he can, with a big score against Pakistan. It was only befitting that he should get to a hundred off the last ball, against the old foe. To borrow a line from my friend and idol, Tom Alter, India counts its happiness by the number of Kohli’s centuries. Tom had written this about Sunil Gavaskar in the 80s.
Nobody had Pakistan as favourites before this game, and everybody was proven right. Pakistan was listless, and did not get on top at any stage of the match. The experts in studios and commentary put it down to various things, like a lack of skills, or the inability to cope with the pressure of an India-Pak game. It may be hard to guess as to how long will Pakistan continue to perform like this. More than that, a struggling Pakistan is not good for the world game. Hardly surprising if one thinks that the big money spinner India-Pak game may not attract the same attention anymore, and the storied rivalry will be a thing of the past, remembered only in nostalgic pieces like this one.
Is the India-Pak rivalry really that now, a rivalry? Well, only just.
About author: Amarinder Sangha is a former Punjab (India) cricketer hailing from Faridkot and now based at Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. He writes frequently on national, international issues related to the sport.
