Is India v Pakistan still cricket’s greatest rivalry?

Roaring masses, faces painted blue and green, banners waving like challenge standards.

This is the opening of The Greatest Rivalry: India v Pakistan, a new Netflix documentary on one of cricket’s most storied contests.

India’s Virender Sehwag sets the tone: “This is a contest bigger than one between the bat and ball”. Cut to dramatic footage of some of the matches, the Wagah border, partition refugees. A nation split into two, but forever bound by cricket.

Pakistan’s Waqar Younis doesn’t hesitate: “I put this rivalry right at the top. There’s no match like India v Pakistan.” India’s R Ashwin agrees: “I think this is bigger than the Ashes.” Ramiz Raja says it’s “the political garnish that makes this rivalry world-class”.

Despite wars, border standoffs and terror attacks, the India-Pakistan cricket rivalry has endured, driven by history and national pride. Even when politics halts the bilateral series, International Cricket Council (ICC) tournaments keep the fire alive, turning every match into a high-stakes spectacle.

But Pakistan’s crushing defeat to India on Sunday at the Champions Trophy has reignited the question: is this rivalry overhyped, propped up by slogans like “war minus the shooting” – a phrase George Orwell coined in 1945 to criticise excessive nationalism in sports?

Is this still the leading clash in bowling, or just one of its most serious? Has it lost its competitive advantage, running more on record than power?

Consider this. From an eight-wicket thrashing in 2018 to a 228-run demolition in 2023, India has dominated, winning six of the last eight ODIs. Pakistan’s last victory? The 2017 Champions Trophy final – a fading memory in an increasingly one-sided rivalry.

What rivalry, asked Dawn – a leading Pakistani newspaper – pointedly after the latest debacle. A cricket war that’s now just a big yawn, headlined India Today magazine.

According to Dawn’s Zohaib Ahmed Majeed, the defeat may become easier to recognize if Pakistan were at least putting up a fight.

According to Majeed, the tense elections between the two neighbors are the only thing that has kept the conflict dead.

In a way, we may thank the officials of these two countries for keeping this conflict dead, because bowlers, especially those on our side, are undoubtedly unable to put on a display that is deserving of its reputation,” he wrote.

” Cut out the battle of words and the real warfare, and what you’ll be left with is a professional cricket team playing a hastily put together group at the last minute.” Pure virtues of football are unmatched in any way.

India Now was no less abrasive. ” Pakistan bowling is quickly sliding into pity country with its record of one-sided defeats to India in recent years. And unless the trend is reversed, baseball fans ‘ hopes of competing with Pakistan could quickly turn into a jumble, according to Sandipan Sharma.

To be accurate, Pakistan’s football difficulties keep mounting. They have missed the final four in the last three ODI World Cups, crashed out in the T20 World Cup team stage and then, as guests of the Champions Trophy, they’ve hit rock-bottom.

Since the 2009 attack on Sri Lanka’s team bus, Pakistan cricket has battled isolation, political turmoil, board instability, frequent coaching changes and selection controversies – all adding to its struggles. Meanwhile, across the border, India has risen as cricket’s powerhouse, backed by a strong domestic system and the IPL, cricket’s richest international league.

Pakistani cricket writer Osman Samiuddin also notes a sense of “marginalisation” among his country’s cricketers, who remain excluded from the IPL and its franchise ecosystem (no Pakistani player has featured in the IPL since 2009, as they were banned after the Mumbai terror attacks). “I think they see Indian cricketers and others as well, like Australian and English cricketers, as partaking in a world of cricket they have been excluded from,” he told a programme.

This has all contributed to the group’s fast-declining wealth.

“It is a futile exercise to wonder if this is the lowest Pakistan cricket has ever been. However, even when Pakistan have plummeted to spectacular lows in the past, they have done it in a way that justifies the cliché of their mercurial nature,” wrote Sidharth Monga in ESPNcricinfo, after Sunday’s game.

” This roll really feels like a switch, slow decline. Players are not fighting with each other, there is no secret drama, there are no cliques in the group plotting to oust the captain, there are no funny run-outs or misfields, no defeats snatched from the jaws of success”.

The “war without guns” tale again held fat, especially when Imran Khan’s Pakistan, armed with a dangerous rate assault of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis and batting stars like Javed Miandad and Inzamam-ul-Haq, often got the better of India.

The story may have been accurate up until the early 2000s because of this, according to the actual fans. But it was soon hijacked by the multinationals and the media to cash in on the hyper-pathos of it all”, Nadeem Farooq Paracha, Pakistani author and columnist, told me.

The quality of cricket between the two teams has changed, according to the statement. Indian cricket is getting better every day. In fact, I believe the Pakistani side is now being more pressured by the narrative in question. They underplay it, even though they’re more than willing to pocket its financial benefits”.

The ICC won’t dial down the hype, but the cricket boards and broadcasters are doing everything they can to keep the rivalry alive. It’s too valuable in a time of overexposure of cricket, limited stars, and franchise competition.

This one game has become a financial juggernaut, fuelling a parallel economy wherever it’s played- Dubai, London, Ahmedabad- drawing fans who spend big just to be there. ” Pakistan has talent, but the contest now feels more psychological”, says cricket writer Gautam Bhattacharyya.

According to brand consultant Santosh Desai, the real conflict between the arch rivals takes place beyond the cricket field, where the “rivalry thrives more in imagination than reality.”

” The asymmetry]between the two sides ] only fuels the hype. India’s dominance makes it an easy narrative to sell, a battle royale where the outcome feels preordained. If Pakistan were winning consistently, the marketing appeal would fade. The rivalry’s commercial power lies in India’s superiority, feeding a script designed for validation, not uncertainty”, Desai told me.

India’s vice-captain Shubman Gill dismisses talk of overhyping, calling it a contest fans love to watch. When both of these teams play, it’s an exciting contest. Everyone enjoys the spectacle. If so many people are happy to watch the match, then who are we to say that it is underhyped or overhyped”, he told reporters on eve of Sunday’s game.

Gill is possibly right. Tickets for India-Pakistan games still fly off the shelves – the ICC reported sellouts within minutes. An astonishing 600 plus million viewers tuned in to watch Sunday’s match on Indian streaming platform JioHotstar, setting new records.

However, for the moment, cricket writer Ayaz Memon puts it this way:” the hype is more thrilling than the cricket itself.”