India Pakistan Cricket: Is It Boring Now?

Aakhir Tak – In Shorts

• India-Pakistan cricket isn’t as exciting as it once was; India wins frequently.
• Pakistan’s losses have become a “yawn,” as they often lose to India.
• There was intense competition in India Pakistan cricket, but not anymore.
• In 1987, Pakistan feared India, but that fear is gone.
• Pakistan must improve their cricket to bring back the competition.

Aakhir Tak – In Depth

Champions Trophy 2025: Why is India Pakistan cricket now boring? That’s the question on every cricket fan’s mind. The template of India-Pakistan cricket has become predictable. India gets beaten only when it has a rare off day. But, Pakistan loses even when it has a great day. Meaning? In closely fought games, India always wins. This makes the India Pakistan Cricket match not as fun.

The decline of an adversary begins when its fear is replaced by apathy. It quickens when apathy makes way for pity. And it is complete when even pity turns into ridicule. With its history of one-sided losses to India in recent years, Pakistan cricket is fast sliding into pity territory. And unless it reverses the trend, Pakistan’s dream of competing with India could soon turn into a butt of jokes for cricket fans.

Rivalry, what rivalry? When the joker becomes your adversary, it delivers riveting theatre. But, when the adversary turns into a joker, it leads only to a tragicomedy.

Why so serious? Because, once upon a time, the greatest rivalry wasn’t just the title of a Netflix series on India-Pakistan cricket. It was pure, blockbuster cinema. The two neighbors were indeed worthy adversaries on the cricket field. And their matches deserved every bit of hype around it.

The high note of this cricketing conflict (aptly labeled war without shooting then), came in the rhythm and meter of an RD Burman song, rendered ironically by Pakistani girls.

It was the autumn of 1987. The first World Cup in the subcontinent, and the last in all-whites, was in full bloom. Having marched into the semi-finals riding on good cricket and luck, Pakistan was playing Australia at Lahore. Convinced that the semis were a mere formality, the Pakistani girls in the stadium started singing Burman’s ‘Aa Dekhen Zara, Kisme Kitna Hai Dum (Let us see how much strength you have)’ from the Indian movie Rocky. The borrowed chorus was a sonorous dare to India, whom they dreamt of meeting in the inevitable final.

Three things happened that day. Pakistan lost the semi-final (so did India). Burman’s song was never again heard in a Pakistani stadium. And Pakistan couldn’t show any dum (power/strength) against India in any world cup for the next 25 years.

The year 1987 was indeed a turning point. In the run-up to that World Cup, Pakistan were generally considered the stronger side in ODIs. Only a few months ago, it had silenced India with a last-ball six by Javed Miandad in Sharjah, a moment so painful that generations of Indians have still not forgotten it and the name of the unfortunate bowler. A few months after Sharjah, when it toured India, Pakistan demolished its rival not just 5-1 in ODIs, but also in the Test series (the one featuring Sunil Gavaskar’s greatest and last innings).

But, Pakistan’s dream of beating India at the Eden Gardens in the final of the World Cup remained just that. It was the best chance they never had. And since then, Pakistan have witnessed their slide from the favorites to India’s equals, and then a further decline to rank underdogs.

And that is why it is an understatement to say the India-Pakistan matches are over-hyped, and over-rated. They are not just that. They are also what Pakistani captain Sarfaraz Khan famously demonstrated in the 2019 World Cup-a big yawn.

How the mighty have fallen! In 1987, the biggest fear of Indian cricket fans was the prospect of their team getting beaten at the Eden Gardens by Pakistan. The terror of the Pakistanis was real, steeped as it was in recent history. Just five years earlier, Pakistanis had decimated Indian hockey (then the country’s pride and joy) in the finals of the 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi, in front of thousands of screaming fans, including the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

What if Imran Khan, Javed Miandad, Wasim Akram and Abdul Qadir pull off an encore of the hockey stars Hassan Sardar, Kaleemullah and Samiullah and their Chak De Pakistan moment? The question gave many Indians sleepless nights.

That fear was put to bed first in 1996 when Ajay Jadeja took apart Waqar Younis, forcing, as rumor has it, the Pakistanis to bring out their prayer mats and offer namaaz. And then again in 2003, when Sachin Tendulkar derailed the Rawalpindi Express with an uppercut in South Africa that landed in Lahore.

Yes, the Pakistanis lost. But they played tough cricket and fought till the very end. It was mad, bad and sad (for the Pakistanis). But still it was good. But over the past decade, even the drama has gone out of India-Pakistan cricket.

PREDICTABLE TEMPLATE?

The template of India-Pakistan cricket has become predictable. India gets beaten only when it has a rare off day. But, Pakistan loses even when it has a great day. Meaning? In closely fought games, India always wins. Ergo, India is a much better team. Indian players have greater ability, and superior mental and physical fitness.

In the final of the 2007 T20 World Cup, Pakistan had a great day. They restricted India to a low total. Later, Misbah ul Haq was just one hit away from history. But, India won.

In the semi-final of the 2011 World Cup at Mohali, India could barely score against the Pakistani bowlers. Even Sachin Tendulkar had an embarrassing outing and got more lives than a cat. Yet, India won.
In Melbourne in 2022, Pakistan had a great day and were ahead till the last two overs of the match. But, Virat Kohli hit two unimaginable sixes off unbelievable angles. India won yet again.

In the 2024 T20 World Cup, Pakistan had to score a paltry 120 runs to beat India. But Jasprit Bumrah cast a spell and Pakistan’s great day again ended with the customary defeat.

In contrast, India’s two biggest losses in recent years have come on really bad days. Once when Mohammad Aamir ran through the top order in the 2017 Champions Trophy final. And later in 2021, when Indian bowlers failed to pick up even a single wicket in the T-20 World Cup match against Pakistan.

All put together, Pakistan has beaten India just once in a World Cup. Big deal! Even Bangladesh and Zimbabwe have done that.
PAKISTAN HAS ONLY TO BLAME ITSELF
Unfortunately, Pakistan doesn’t even look like a side that could win, except on a rare bad day for India. Worse still, it doesn’t have the players to provide the drama within the drama, the satisfaction of mini-battles within the bigger war that once defined the rivalry. The likes of Imran Khan, Miandad, Akram, Waqar, Inzam ul Haq, Saeed Anwar and Shoaib Akhtar are long gone. And their place has been taken by Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi and nine others whose names most Indian fans do not even remember. But, a Shaheen Shah vs Virat Kohli doesn’t have the same ominous ring as a Tendulkar vs Shoaib, or a Venkatesh Prasad vs Aamir Sohail.

Pakistan’s greatest poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz once poignantly lamented that this is not the dawn they were waiting for (ye woh sahar toh nahin). But, Pakistan has only to blame itself for the current plight. In its bid to compete with India, and become the lapdog of the geopolitical top dogs (USA, Russia, China-by rotation), it destroyed all its institutions and focussed only on its terror infrastructure. The result was its near-pariah status as a cricketing host because of the fear of attacks at home, and its persona-non-grata status in the most competitive league in the world-the IPL. So, Pakistan couldn’t play at home for many years, and its players couldn’t travel to compete with the best in the world. Competition with the best gives you the opportunity to become the best. Confined to its crazy cocoon of terror and petty cricket politics, Pakistan’s cricket became stagnant. The rest of the world, meanwhile, moved on.

So, Pakistan’s cricket, like its hockey and economy, just conjures a nostalgic yearning for a rivalry that once was. Every time they play India, we all wish for the team that we once secretly admired and publicly hated. Maybe, some day the Pakistan of old will turn up and revive the old fire.

Till then, turn your attention to the 90-metre arc that divides a javelin field. That’s the only field in the whole world where Pakistan can compete and show some real dum.

Aakhir Tak – Key Takeaways to Remember

• The India Pakistan Cricket rivalry isn’t what it used to be, losing its old fire.
• India’s team has become stronger than Pakistan, leading to predictable matches.
• Pakistan needs to improve its cricket significantly to regain competitive edge.
• India-Pakistan Cricket has now become a “yawn” for many fans.
• Pakistan must work hard to bring back its former glory in the cricket arena.

Aakhir Tak Editor-in-Chief

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