 "India vs Pakistan: A New York adventure might not be what the doctor ordered for its waning charm")
If you are above 40 years of age, you will be able to recall a time when an India vs Pakistan encounter would bring everything else to an absolute standstill. It had the power, nay the magical power, of making everything that was not about that clash blur into the background.
In today’s frenetic world - jahan rukna mana hai (where pausing is not an option) - no sporting encounter can realistically have that effect, though an India vs Pakistan cricket match still tries to do its best to grab people’s attention even before the first ball is bowled.
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But, let’s face it. India vs Pakistan is no longer the fierce on-ground rivalry it used to be, is it?
The barbs and in your face aggression is gone, the suspense about which team will have the upper hand on the day is but a shadow of its former self. It’s almost all one-way traffic in favour of the team in blue after all. So, can the clash still be given epithets like ’the mother of all cricket battles’ and ‘marquee clash’?
Growing up in Calcutta in the 1980s, I clearly remember deserted streets (traffic was anyway one-thousandth of what it is today), shops pulling down their shutters early and people returning from their places of work with an added spring of anticipation in their steps whenever there was one of these encounters - either an India vs Pakistan cricket or hockey match or a Mohun Bagan vs East Bengal football clash. You don’t get to see those same things today - anywhere, as such.
Yes, stadiums are always full when these two teams play, there is a certain amount of buzz, people still ask - India-Pakistan kab hai? (when is India playing Pakistan?), but are we realistically expecting a pitched battle every time these two Asian giants square off? Ask yourself that question. What is the honest answer you get?
Impact Shorts
More ShortsOver the decades, as cricket as a game changed, the players and teams changed, the jerseys changed, the administrations changed, popularity of the players soared, social media took over our lives and more and more money came into the sport, the one thing that remained constant was the charm of an India vs Pakistan cricket match, regardless of format. And that was because going into an India vs Pakistan game you didn’t know who was going to win.
Man for man both teams looked good.
‘It will be India’s batting vs Pakistan’s bowling’ - that was the common refrain till even the early 2000s. Sachin Tendulkar clobbering one of the fastest bowlers of all time - Shoaib Akhtar in the 2003 World Cup in Centurion will always be the stuff of legend.
Incredibly this contest that formally began in 1952 (Pakistan tour of India for a Test series, which India won 2-1) overtook the Ashes, which has been played since 1882, on the rivalry scale. The ‘mother of all cricket battles’ tag was justified - till a certain time.
And then of course there is the emotional angle of this clash. Over the years this meeting has always been so much more than a sporting encounter. The decades-old political and off-the-field rivalry forms the backdrop of each and every cricket match played between these two countries as emotions run high on both sides of the border, often at the risk of overshadowing everything else. It’s perhaps what makes fans in both countries not just hope or pray for their team’s win, but wish with every atom of their being that the other team is thrashed.
But then there is also another beautiful facet - of mutual respect. It’s difficult to find that a lot amongst the fans these days, but amongst the players it will always be intact. Kapil Dev saying Imran Khan was the best all-rounder for him, Imran saying it was always Kapil. Babar Azam saying he has always been a Virat Kohli fan, Virat giving Babar an autographed India jersey. This will never cease to be endearing.
The Moments Virat Kohli gives his signed Jersey to Babar Azam after the match and talking to him - Great gesture from King Kohli.
— Tanuj (@ImTanujSingh) October 15, 2023
- What a lovely video! https://t.co/ENL9bYFLlX
How does one explain a legion of Virat Kohli fans in Pakistan, who in turn celebrate his wicket in an India-Pakistan game like the match has been won? It’s this intangible that has traditionally added a lot of ‘swaad’ to the delicacy that is India vs Pakistan cricket.
For those who are pure cricket fans, devoid of all hatred and acrimony, it is a chance of course to witness their team beat a quality opposition. For others, a cricket match win against the ‘arch rivals’ is equivalent to winning a proper battle - on the battleground.
The mother of all cricket battles.
But is it still that in terms of the quality of competition on the ground?
Some things have changed completely - for both teams. India has for quite some time now not been a team that relies almost entirely on its batters, Pakistan have continued to produce fast bowlers, almost at will, but they can rarely really trouble Indian batters. The quality of Pakistan’s batting overall has also dipped. While Indian cricket, thanks to the BCCI’s burgeoning coffers has gone from strength to strength, Pakistan’s fortunes have nosedived, hand in hand with the political and sporting administration of the country.
There is a certain amount of awe that one witnesses in Pakistan cricketers when they come across their Indian counterparts.
For the purists, this is rather unfortunate. After all, is there really any fun in ‘an eagerly anticipated clash’ dwindling into a one-sided contest?
Going into an India-Pakistan encounter though all players are well aware of what is at stake.
Ask any cricketer from either country and they will tell you that losing this clash, especially a World Cup encounter is their worst nightmare. The backlash is very, very real. Pakistan cricketers have been the ones who have been at the receiving end of this more often, of course, because of their abysmal record against the Men in Blue.
Pakistan went into the 1996 ODI World Cup as the defending champions. When they lost the quarter-final clash against India in Bengaluru, they had to fly back home under extremely tight security and couldn’t venture out of their homes for days.
Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram called the fan backlash - ‘hellish’.
Former India captain Anjum Chopra recently told me in an interview - “There is never this thought in the dressing room that - ‘if we lose, what is going to be the backlash?’ This thought is only there when you are playing Pakistan.”
Pakistan are yet to beat India in the ODI World Cup. They in fact managed to break their overall World Cup jinx against the Men in Blue in the 2021 T20 World Cup, when unbeaten half-centuries by Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan took them to a 10-wicket win in Dubai. They finally had a World Cup win against India in 13 attempts.
India beat Pakistan by 4 wickets in the next edition in 2022 in the Super 12s.
And then last year, in Ahmedabad, India stamped their authority on the contest yet again, beating the Men in Green by 7 wickets in the ODI World Cup.
No unbiased cricket expert can really put their finger on why Pakistan almost always loses to India in World Cups. Some feel it’s the toss factor (India have won most of the tosses vs Pak in World Cups overall), some say it’s because India players handle the pressure better, some feel recent Pakistan teams are mentally not strong enough to believe that they can beat India.
Whatever the reason might be, for Pakistan to beat India in a World Cup always seems to be and is a tall order. So, is the charm of the contest still the same?
For those who believe that the aura of an India vs Pakistan cricket match has diminished, the major reason cited is India’s dominance, especially in ICC tournaments.
India have won eight out of eight contests at the ODI World Cup against the Men in Green and seven out of eight matches in the T20 World Cup. Compare that with Pakistan’s dominance overall against India in ODIs traditionally (Pak have overall won 73 out of 135 ODIs vs India, losing 57) and you will understand why many feel that the charm of an India vs Pakistan World Cup match has somewhat worn off.
The two teams incredibly didn’t play each other in the first four ODI World Cups (from 1975 to 1987). Both teams lost in the semi-finals of the 1987 edition and their first World Cup face-off was in 1992. And from then on, if you look at the winner’s column, it almost always reads India.
Once these two teams stopped playing bilateral cricket, ICC tournaments remained the only arenas where they could go toe-to-toe. So, the wait for an India vs Pakistan match became longer, but the result was almost always, inevitably the same.
There’s no doubt that this contest needs a stiff pick-me-up. The unfortunate part is, we might not be able to see anything like that in the ongoing T20 World Cup.
On Sunday, 9 June, 2024, the two current teams will line up at a venue they have never played each other in ever before - the newly built Nassau County cricket stadium in New York. There won’t be too many people out there who would have envisioned these two traditional rivals squaring off against each other in the Big Apple someday. But that’s what lies in store for us on Sunday.
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Incidentally, the ICC and USA Cricket have also not made it easy for fans to keep the vigour of an India vs Pakistan World Cup match alive in this edition.
First, it’s the time zone. India’s matches, barring their clash against Canada have all been scheduled for either weekdays or Sunday (India vs Pakistan), with 8 PM IST starts. The days after these games are all working days for most people. The matches can stretch well up to midnight and beyond.
Then there are the very, very expensive tickets.
After India vs Ireland match was played in front of multiple empty stands, the India vs Pakistan game could also potentially have the same fate.
Edition after edition, the league stage India vs Pakistan match at a cricket World Cup is always the first one that is sold-out. The two teams are always in the same group, because this is the match that attracts the maximum gate receipts and eyeballs. It is the marquee clash of the competition. Tickets virtually evaporate after the window opens.
According to reports, Cricket USA had claimed that fans showed great interest in the India vs Pakistan match in New York. It’s quite a big surprise in that context to read news reports that tickets for this mega clash have not been sold out (at the time of writing this article) - possibly for the first time ever in a World Cup in recent history. The pricing of the tickets is being cited as the major reason, with the $300 (just over Rs 25,000) general admission tickets all being sold out. The hospitality tickets are priced between $2500 and $10,000. The mind-boggling price of these tickets defies logic at a time when the ICC is trying to popularise the sport in America.
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Why would anyone who doesn’t know the sport well come to watch it when the tickets are so exorbitantly priced? And as far as the Asian community in the US is concerned - who are well-versed with cricket - how many of them can afford to come and watch an India vs Pakistan World Cup clash that costs so much? It’s not just the ticket prices remember that fans have to factor in, but also travel, hotels, food, etc.
And to think that the New York stadium can accommodate only about 34,000 people, compared to say the Ahmedabad stadium which has a capacity of 1,32,000 and was packed to the rafters for the 2023 ODI World Cup clash between the arch rivals.
And then there are the pitches in New York. If you have been following the tournament closely so far, you would have seen the kind of seam movement and bounce these pitches have been producing. In the India vs Ireland match, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant and Harry Tector were all hit on the body because the bounce deceived them. Rohit in fact had to retire hurt .
The matches in New York are being played on drop-in pitches brought in from Australia and prepared in Florida since last December using proprietary techniques honed for over a decade at the Adelaide Oval.
However, these pitches are quite clearly underprepared. Hardly any cricket has been played on them. It’s anyone’s guess really what the strip used on Sunday for the biggest clash of the tournament, at least on paper, will behave like.
The New York adventure that the ICC wanted to take cricket fans on might not be what the doctor ordered to reignite the waning charm of an India vs Pakistan World Cup match.
India will go in as the overwhelming favourites yet again. Not just because they are the more consistent team (India are ranked 1, while Pakistan sit in 6th place in the ICC T20I team rankings), but also because Pakistan are already severely on the backfoot in the tournament after their shock loss to co-hosts USA in their opening match. Who would have thought that at this stage of the tournament, USA would be leading the Group A points table? This result was in many ways reminiscent of the Netherlands handing England a 4-wicket loss in the 2009 edition of the tournament.
If the USA manage to pull off one more win out of their remaining two group fixtures - which they realistically could against Ireland at least on June 14 - they will be on 6 points. That means that even if Pakistan win all their remaining three matches, they will be tied with USA on points and the battle could boil down to the net run rate.
And one of those three remaining matches is against India - a team they just can’t find a way to beat in World Cups.
It’s not a surprise that Wasim Akram has already said that Pakistan will struggle to qualify for the next round - the Super Eights.
As far as the cricketing acumen of the two sides is concerned, the one thing Pakistan will be banking on is a superlative performance by their fast bowlers. They have genuine quicks like Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf and Mohammad Amir at their disposal and going by how the New York pitches have been behaving, they will be hoping for a snorter of a track to trouble the Indian batters.
But, having said that, these are the four pacers they fielded against the USA and they could take just three wickets between them. Of course that match was played in Dallas. Also, India boast of a good fast bowling attack too. The likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj and Hardik Pandya could make the Pakistan batters dance to their tunes on pitches that very clearly have more than a few demons in them.
Will this match be a throwback to the earlier days of this rivalry - India’s batting vs Pakistan’s bowling? Will it be another one-sided contest? How treacherous will the pitch be and how much will that tilt the balance?
Team India remember hasn’t won an ICC trophy since the 2013 Champions Trophy. They haven’t won the T20 World Cup since the inaugural edition in 2007. Last year, when they had a golden opportunity of breaking their ICC tournament jinx, they fell at the final hurdle against Australia in the ODI World Cup, at home. Needless to say, their drive will be hunger. Pakistan’s will be survival.
What the playing conditions manage to deliver at the end of the day will determine just how big a first-bite cricket can take out of the Big Apple.
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