The India-Pakistan Rivalry is Dead?

SS says: long live the rivalry

Once the India–Pakistan cricket rivalry was the most charged, unpredictable and deeply emotional contest in the sporting world. Each fixture was a test of skill, spirit and resilience. Netflix even made a documentary series called The Greatest Rivalry: India vs Pakistan. Now, we are told, the rivalry no longer exists. The verdict this week, repeated by an array of Indian television experts, commentators, current players, and retired ones, is that Pakistan is no longer a serious cricketing challenger to India. There is evidence for the view. Barring the 2017 Champions Trophy final and the 2021 T20 World Cup league game, India has been routinely winning matches against Pakistan at the ICC events; the two do not play outside of multinational tournaments. Yet cycles in sport, as in history, are never final.

When Javed Miandad hit Chetan Sharma for a six off the last ball in Sharjah in 1986, it inaugurated a long phase of Pakistani dominance in one-day cricket that became as psychological as it was statistical. India suffered not just defeats but scars. For nearly two decades after that moment, India could not win against them – particularly in Sharjah on Fridays – and was often second best, except for the world cups. The tables turned after the 2007 T20 World Cup final, the match that marked India’s bold new generation under MS Dhoni. Others consider the 2003 World Cup match in Centurion, when Sachin Tendulkar upper cut Shoaib Akhtar for six en route to his iconic 98 that helped India beat Pakistan, as the turning point. For the past 15 years, India has regularly defeated Pakistan. This dominance has lasted so long that many have mistaken it for permanence.