 "India vs Pakistan has become a highly one-sided rivalry. Image: AP")
Cricketing relations between India and Pakistan have tended to take the lead from the geopolitical climate of the time. Traditionally, there have been long gaps between bilateral skirmishes from 1960-61 onwards. India didn’t travel to Pakistan for 24 years, between 1954 and 1978, Pakistan’s first visit of India after 1960 was only in 1979.
Subsequently, the two nations did battle on a reasonably consistent basis between 1982-83 and 1986-87; India toured Pakistan thrice in that period, playing 12 Tests, while Pakistan’s two sojourns across the border spanned eight five-day outings.
Pakistan forayed to India after a dozen years in early 1999 for three Tests – two as part of a bilateral showdown, the third the inaugural Asian Test Championship fixture in Kolkata. India returned the compliment five years on, playing in Pakistan in 2004, the first time since Sachin Tendulkar’s Test debut in that country towards the end of 1989.
That set off a frenzied phase of four three-Test series in as many years, two in each country. But since India’s 1-0 victory at home in December 2007, the teams haven’t contested a Test match. The last bilateral faceoff straddled 2012 and 2013 with India hosting two Twenty20 Internationals and three 50-over games. Since then, their exchanges have been restricted to the white-ball duels in the Asia Cup, the 50-over Champions Trophy, and World Cups in both the 50- and 20-over versions.
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The changing dynamics of bilateral cricket have been mirrored by a definitive shift in the balance of power. Even until a decade and a half back, the teams seemed equally matched. Indeed, the last time they toured India, Pakistan took the three-match ODI bouquet 2-1 after the T20I series ended in a 1-1 stalemate. But since then, while India have gone from strength to strength across formats, Pakistan have inexorably spiralled in the opposite direction.
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For all of the 1990s and the early part of the 2000s, it was largely a gripping contest between India’s powerful batting line-up and a gun Pakistani attack headlined by Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Saqlain Mushtaq, with Shoaib Akhtar and Abdul Razzaq, among others, occasionally coming to the party. Especially in Sharjah, which was the only destination in the Emirates at the time, Pakistan played their best cricket while elsewhere in the world but also from time to time in Sharjah, India would call the shots.
Even though India won every 50-over World Cup game from 1992, it wasn’t as if they were miles ahead of Pakistan outside of the quadrennial showpiece. There was no clear favourite at any stage. The outcome was often decided by small margins, by one individual show of brilliance or one collective burst at a crucial time. And even when one team trotted out a comprehensive winner, it didn’t necessarily mean that it heralded the start of a domineering run.
How all that has changed. India are now an unstoppable force, Pakistan struggling to stay afloat, only recently grasping the importance of keeping pace with the emerging trends in limited-overs play in general, and T20 cricket specifically. Admittedly, their cricket was set back immensely when teams stopped playing in Pakistan for an extended stretch since early 2009 following a terror attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore. But even in the last half-decade and more since international cricket returned to that country, Pakistan haven’t been able to compete with the big boys on an even keel on a consistent basis like they once used to.
Sunday’s showdown at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium was another example of how Indo-Pak cricket is now driven more by hype, by marketing whizzes and commercial interests, than because both teams are evenly matched and therefore can guarantee competitive action. India’s seven-wicket victory with 25 deliveries in the bag, achieved every bit as comfortably as the result would suggest, reiterated the gulf between the sides. Long before the first ball was bowled by Hardik Pandya, pundits from both sides of the border agreed on one thing – that India were by far the stronger, more complete team that deserved favouritism, and that if Pakistan did manage to sneak past the finish line, it would constitute an upset.
India have now won their last six matches against their one-time fierce foes. Since losing a Super Four fixture at the T20 Asia Cup at the same DICS three years ago, they have surged home in three T20Is (including at the World Cups in 2022 and 2024) and as many ODIs (Asia Cup 2023, World Cup 2023, Champions Trophy 2025). Pakistan ran them close in both 20-over games before Sunday, India winning off the last ball in Melbourne and managing successfully to defend 119 on a horrendous strip in New York last year. But especially at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, Pakistan’s lack of belief and confidence that they could get the better of India manifested itself evidently in their tentative approach to a challenging target (considering the surface) but one that was definitely within their reach.
The diminishing charm of a contest that was once as no-holds-barred as the Ashes have been for more than a century translated to tepid ticket sales for the desert safari . Even in February when Rohit Sharma led his side out against Mohammad Rizwan’s men at the Champions Trophy in Dubai, the clamour for a place in the stadium was overwhelming. Tickets were snapped up within four minutes of being made available and even till play was called, there was a frantic quest to gain entry with people willing to pay several times the cost price. For the Asia Cup, a fresh set of tickets was made available on Friday evening and the 25,000-capacity DICS was no more than four-fifths occupied, at best.
Are fans ditching ‘cold’ IND vs PAK matches?
India-Pakistan matches are a big draw with the broadcasters, who shell out huge sums to procure television rights, and with sponsors looking for brand presence either at the ground or through slots on television between overs. Those pulling the financial strings have believed there is plenty for bang for every buck; because of the lack of bilateral ties, the demand has been massive whenever the teams have locked horns in multi-nation tournaments. For the host broadcaster, these games have been terrific cash cows, and a concerted effort has been made since both teams crashed out in the first round of the 50-over World Cup in the West Indies in 2007 to ensure that they face each at least once in the league phase, with the possibility of another showdown in the knockouts an added bonus.
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The last few editions of the Asia Cup, 50 or 20 overs, have factored in three potential matches between the nations in the same event. That didn’t fructify at the T20 event in Dubai (2022) or Colombo (2023), Sri Lanka crashing the party on each occasion, making the former final at India’s expense and the latter at Pakistan’s. India and Pakistan are scheduled to clash next Sunday in the Super Fours and, if the primary stakeholders get their wish, could meet for a third time on September 28, in the final.
But what once was the goose that laid golden eggs is now a white elephant of sorts, with the quality of cricket not commensurate with the hoopla. The one-sided nature of the competition is forcing the fans, the biggest and most committed stakeholders, as well as potential commercial partners to think twice before putting their money where their mouth is at. As a rivalry, India-Pakistan has gone colder than Siberia in peak winter; for more reasons than one, the cricket world will be the poorer for it unless Pakistan clean up their act, post haste.