The cricket contest between India and Pakistan is one of the fiercest and most intensive in the world of sports. Dating back to the early days of cricket, this contest has charmed fans from both countries and has become a symbol of public pride and identity.

The history of this contest can be traced back to the partition of India in 1947, which panned out in the creation of two separate nations- India and Pakistan. Since also, cricket matches between the two countries have taken on a significance that goes beyond the boundaries of the sport.

The first cricket match between India and Pakistan took place, just five years after Pakistan gained independence. It was a major moment for both nations, as it marked the beginning of a contest that would define cricket in the subcontinent for decades to come.

The rivalry between India and Pakistan has not been without its fair share of difficulties. From allegations of match-fixing to heated on- field face-offs, emotions have frequently run high during these encounters. Still, amidst the intense competition, there have also been moments of sportsmanship and camaraderie that have transcended the boundaries of national pride.

 

Political Impact on Cricket

 

The India vs Pakistan cricket rivalry has not only been limited to the cricket field but has also had a broader impact on the political and cultural relations between the two nations. Cricket matches between the two countries have frequently been seen as a platform for political gestures and a means to ease tensions.

In recent times, due to political strains between India and Pakistan, bilateral cricket series have become rare incidents. Still, the contest remains alive and continues to capture the imagination of cricket fans around the world in the ICC events and Asia Cup.

As far as world history is concerned, October 16, 1952, is an uneventful day, one during which nothing noteworthy happened except in the context of cricket and sport in general. India and Pakistan played their first Test match on this day, and therefore began what would become one of the most famous and ferocious battles in world history, let alone in cricket. All of Pakistan’s players were technically making their Test debuts because this was the beginning of their Test-playing journey. There were, still, some of them who had previously played Test cricket for the Indian team, so they shared a dressing room with a lot of the players they were presently facing, including Abdul Kardar. As also, the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium was called the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.

Several players on both sides went on to become pioneering legends in their separate countries and beyond. The Indian team was led by Lala Amarnath, whose names are still associated with the trophies they won today, including Vinoo Mankad, Vijay Hazare, Vijay Manjrekar, and Polly Umrigar. In the first match, India defeated Pakistan by an innings and 70 runs, but Pakistan came back and won by an innings. During the Lucknow match, the crowd turned hostile against the Indians and threw stones at their team bus. Captain Amarnath had to wade through the crowd to bail out his players with a lathi. Hazare, Mankad, and Hemu Adhikari, who didn’t play that match, were later defamed by Amarnath of conspiring against him. Despite the pressures involved in the third Test at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai, India won by 10 wickets. The two sides deployed defensive tactics in the last two matches as a result. Both matches were drawn and India won the series by a margin of 2-1. The intensity of rivalry and the reluctance to accept defeat were therefore easily apparent in the very first cricket series between the two countries.

The umpires of the matches played between the two nations in the 20th century were accused of favouring the home team and of deploying other unethical tactics. Even so, players from both teams started receiving adulation from both sides of the border because of the sheer quality of the matches and performances. Imran Khan, one of the greatest all- rounders in history, played some of the classic Indian advertisements with India batting legend Sunil Gavaskar, proving this point. A major shift in power balance within the International Cricket Council( ICC) was marked by the political manoeuvring of the Indian and Pakistani cricket boards in 1987, which caused the World Cup to move out of England for the first time.

Due to volatile relations between the two countries, bilateral series were always affected. Between 1998 and 2008, the two sides played 14 Test matches against each other. The phase ended with the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008. While Pakistan toured India in 2012/13 for a three-match ODI and two-match T20I series, that remains the last bilateral match between the two teams. It has been over a decade since the two teams last met in ICC tournaments and Asia Cups. Regardless of how the match turned out, they invariably became the biggest match of those tournaments by some distance – the ICC reported that a unique broadcast audience of 706 million people had been recorded for the entire 2019 World Cup, 273 million of whom were from the India-Pakistan match.

 

Head to head

While India dominated ODI cricket in the last decade, Pakistan has historically led the head-to-head record in the format in which the two teams will face each other on Sunday. There have been 14 matches between the two sides between 2010 and 2020 and India won 10. Pakistan has won 73 of those matches while India has won 55 of them. In 17 bilateral ODI series played until 2013, Pakistan won 11 matches, while India won just 5.

Indian team has won 9 of its 12 T20I matches, including the T20 World Cup match in 2007, which India won via a bowl-out. A staggering 38 of 58 Test matches between Pakistan and India have been drawn. Pakistan has won 11 matches, while India has won 9. According to the head-to-head record of the series, there have been four draws, four losses, and four draws.

 

Fights and sledging

 

Over the years, this rivalry has produced some of the most memorable and intensive cricketing moments. From the fierce battles between legendary players like Sachin Tendulkar and Wasim Akram, Aamir Sohail to Venkatesh Prasad, and Gautam Gambhir to Shahid Afridi, to the high-stakes encounters in World Cup events, every match between India and Pakistan has been a spectacle in its own right.

 

Aamir Sohail – Venkatesh Prasad

Aamer Sohail was the Pakistani captain for this game as well, and he was doing a great job. During that particular over, he came down the track and hit Venkatesh Prasad across the off side for a dismissive boundary. He was smashing the Indian bowlers to all parts of the ground.

Afterwards, Sohail gestured towards Prasad that he would hit him through the same region on the next ball, but Prasad actually cleaned him up on the next ball and gave him an angry send-off.

 

Afridi – Gambhir

 

After their ugly argument in 2007 during the bilateral series, Afridi and Gambhir never got along.

Gambhir felt that he was running in a straight line and Afridi had to move aside because he was running towards him while reaching the non-striker’s end.

Afridi, on the other hand, thought he was just standing in his follow-through. The argument between the two was eventually stopped by the on-field umpires.

But in recent times the on-field aggression or spat has been missing from India, Pakistan matches, and players have become more friendly. Let’s keep our fingers crossed to witness the meeting of the too giant’s of the game who will be facing once again in the on-going Asia cup on Sunday.