Ind vs Pak: A Rivalry in Cricket Worth Watching

Ind vs Pak: A Rivalry in Cricket Worth Watching
Ind vs Pak cricket match is the only game in the world watched by over a billion people even if it is not a World Cup final or anything.

Ind vs Pak cricket rivalry is one of the most intense sports rivalries in the world. The tense relations between these two nations India and Pakistan, resulting from bitter diplomatic relationships and conflict that originated during the Partition of British India into India and Pakistan in 1947, the Indo-Pakistani Wars, and the Kashmir conflict, laid the foundations for the emergence of an intense sporting rivalry between the two nations since they shared a common cricketing heritage inherited from British rule.

Ind vs Pak: A Rivalry in Cricket Worth Watching
The respective cricket boards of Pakistan and India (Image Source: The Quint)

So let us learn more about this intense sports rivalry since in 4 days on 28th August 2020 there will be another cricket match between India and Pakistan.

Ind vs Pak: A Rivalry in Cricket Worth Watching
Ind vs Pak Asia Cup 2022

When did the Ind vs Pak rivalry start?

After the independence from British rule in 1947, there was a rivalry between India and Pakistan because the partition of these nations had left a bitter taste since nearly a million people were killed during the violence. It spread to the area of cricket as well when Pakistan became a full member of the International Cricket Council in 1952 the same year they toured India and the rivalry officially began.

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Ind vs Pak: A Rivalry in Cricket Worth Watching
ICC is the international cricket regulatory organization (Image Source: Wikipedia)

During the tournament, Pakistan lost the first Test in Delhi to India but won the second Test in Lucknow, which led to an angry reaction from the home crowd against the Indian players. India grabbed the Test series after winning the third Test in Bombay, but the intense pressure during the match affected the players of both teams to the point that they pursued mainly defensive tactics that led to drawn matches and the whole series without a victory.

India Pakistan 1952 match

The same happened when India toured Pakistan in 1955 and led to today’s rivalry which is almost treated as a battle between the nations.

Ind vs Pak: A Rivalry in Cricket Worth Watching
Ind vs Pak test cricket match

What are the current results of Ind vs Pak cricket matches?

The two sides have played a total of 200 times. Pakistan has won 87 matches compared to India’s 70 victories. In Test matches and ODIs Pakistan has won more matches than India, although India has won six of the nine T20 International between the two sides.

Ind vs Pak: A Rivalry in Cricket Worth Watching
Fans fill up the stadium in the match between India and Pakistan (Image Source: Dawn)

In Test matches there have been 59 matches so far and in this Pakistan is ahead of India with 12 wins against 9 wins from India. 38 times the match has been either drawn or failed to produce a distinctive result.

Ind vs Pak: A Rivalry in Cricket Worth Watching
Pakistani Players celebrating after they send the Indian skipper back (Image Source: Dawn)

In One Day Internationals or ODI’s as they are commonly called Pakistan is ahead of India with 18 more wins as they have won 73 ODI matches compared to India’s 55. 4 matches have been declared drawn or have produced no results.

Ind vs Pak: A Rivalry in Cricket Worth Watching
Pakistani team after winning the 2017 Champions trophy where they defeated India

In the youngest and most popular format of cricket T20, India has more wins than Pakistan when played against each other. In 9 matches India has won 6 compared to Pakistan’s 2 and 1 match has been declared a draw.

Ind vs Pak: A Rivalry in Cricket Worth Watching
India won the first T20 world cup by defeating Pakistan

However, India has the better record in ICC tournaments, with Pakistan having its first win against India in a World Cup match during the 2021 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. In the Champions Trophy, however, Pakistan has won three of the five meetings between the two sides, including the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy Final. This was the second time the two teams had met in an ICC final, with India winning the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 Final in South Africa.

Ind vs Pak: A Rivalry in Cricket Worth Watching
Pakistani Team celebrating after getting dangerous Virat Kohli dismissed

What is Cricket Diplomacy?

The excitement of Ind vs Pak cricket matches has even led to progress in diplomatic avenues when the relations between India and Pakistan are going through rough times like now leading to the birth of the term cricket diplomacy. Since cricket is the second-most widely played game in the world after football, and is thus used as a political tool to bridge gaps in diplomacy between competing countries.

Ind vs Pak: A Rivalry in Cricket Worth Watching
Pakistani President General Jia ul Haq presenting cricket bat to Indian skipper

Cricket diplomacy means using the game of cricket as a political tool to enhance or worsen the diplomatic relations between two cricket-playing nations.

Ind vs Pak: A Rivalry in Cricket Worth Watching
Primeminister’s of Pakistan and India visiting players together. What an example of Cricket diplomacy

Ind vs Pak cricket match has been used successfully and unsuccessfully in the past by the top leaders of both India and Pakistan and has produced mixed results in the diplomatic avenues of the relations between these two countries which are filled with war and mistrust.

Ind vs Pak: A Rivalry in Cricket Worth Watching
Cricket manages tp bring the enemies together

Public’s Reaction to Ind vs Pak cricket rivalry:

Cricket is a significant sport within both countries and Ind vs Pak matches involving them can provoke what has been described as “a strong response” from the general public. In Pakistan when the team loses against India, particularly in world cup tournaments Pakistani public gets very upset emotionally making it difficult for the players and their family forgetting that winning and losing are part of the game. They sometimes even break the TV in which they are watching the match and may even get violent.

Ind vs Pak: A Rivalry in Cricket Worth Watching
World Famous meme made after the Fan’s reaction when Pakistan lost against India

Indians are similar in nature when it comes to the Ind v Pak cricket match. The public tends to get emotional and they do similar things done by Pakistani fans on the other side of the border. Especially after the Pakistani won in the 2017 Champions trophy final and the 2021 ICC T20 world cup, many people who openly supported Pakistan were arrested and charged with sedition.

Reactions of Indian Fan after losing to Pakistan in the 2017 champions trophy final

Ind vs Pak rivalry in other sports:

Infamous Ind vs Pak rivalry is not limited to one sport. It has spread to other sports as well like field hockey and football as well. In field hockey, they have played a total of nine finals against each other in which Pakistan won seven gold medals and India won two gold medals. Both nations played each other from 1956 to 1964 in three successive Olympic Hockey finals and here India won the gold medal twice while Pakistan won only one gold medal.

Rivalry in Field Hockey between and India and Pakistan

They played in four Asia cup finals against each other. Pakistan won three out of those. Pakistan has a record of winning the first three Asia Cup (i.e. 1982, 1985, and 1989) against India in a row. In overall summary out of 178 matches played Pakistan has won 82 against India’s 64 and 32 of them being no result or drawn.

Ind vs Pak: A Rivalry in Cricket Worth Watching
Indian and Pakistani Field Hockey teams competing against each other.

Another famous Ind vs Pak rivalry is in Football(Soccer). With the massive popularity of cricket in the subcontinent, football largely takes a backseat. However, recently the football games between these two sides are viewed in large numbers, especially in 2014 when 85% of the tickets for a friendly match between India and Pakistan were sold out quickly at the Bangalore Football Stadium. This was the first such friendly held since 2005.

Ind vs Pak: A Rivalry in Cricket Worth Watching
Indian and Pakistani football team competing against each other

Conclusion: Other Sports Rivalry Across the World

A sports rivalry is not limited to India and Pakistan only it has other major players like US and Canada, Australia and UK, Australia and New Zealand, and so on. These sports rivalries make the matches worth seeing.

Sports Rivalries across the globe

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