 "Netflix’s The Greatest Rivalry – India vs Pakistan review: Virender Sehwag & Shoaib Akhtar take the cake with a little bit of Sourav Ganguly")
Where was Sachin Tendulkar, Kapil Dev and Rahul Dravid? Why their views were not taken when the Netflix’s three-part documentary series which primarily spoke about how the India-Pakistan matches are more than just a bat and a ball.
As Ramiz Raja rightly said, “It’s the political garnish that makes the matches world class.” But anyways it was great revisiting those matches of India and Pakistan which were our primary source of entertainment.
These India-Pakistan matches had a mix of everything – drama, entertainment and game. We cannot ignore the fact that cricket runs in our DNA. It is not only played on the ground, it’s taken into the streets and alleyways. And this game started to gain traction because heroes started to come out of cricket more than any other sports. The docuseries had glimpses of the 1983 World Cup which was indeed a miraculous win and created heroes and took in a lot of young players like Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar. It was the 1983 World Cup that changed the grammar of Indian cricket.
India was known to churn out a factory of batsmen whereas Pakistan has fabulous fast bowlers and they were called the Brazil of cricket. The docuseries shows how India Vs Pakistan matches were never a smooth sailing. It was strange to think that India Vs Pakistan matches could be treated like a normal sporting contest.
It is true that India-Pakistan matches are not just games, it is an emotion. In one of the episodes, Saurav Ganguly says, “After Sunil Gavaskar it was Virender Sehwag who was the biggest opening batsman.” But Sunil Gavaskar was all about techniques. But Sehwag didn’t get consumed by it. He believed, “What is the use of techniques, if it doesn’t give the runs.” And we cannot deny that watching him play was delightful and refreshing.
Netflix’s The Greatest Rivalry – India vs Pakistan is highly entertaining and makes you feel nostalgic. It is dramatised no doubt, but what is India-Pakistan match without a little bit of drama.
Rating: 4 out of 5
WATCH the trailer of Netflix’s The Greatest Rivalry – India vs Pakistan here:
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