How India turned tables on Pakistan

A few days ago, former Pakistan tearaway Shoaib Akhtar proposed an India-Pakistan series to raise funds to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. While the idea in itself wasn’t ill-advised, the concept was certainly ill-timed, what with almost the entire world in lockdown. Sport doesn’t operate in a vacuum that it can remain unaffected, which is why all sporting activities too have come to a grinding halt. But in these inactive times for sport, Akhtar’s suggestion got one thinking about the changing face of Indo-Pak rivalry on the cricket field over the years since the two neighbours first met in 1952.

If you have grown up following cricket from the mid-1980s, then as an Indian fan, till the end of the 1990s, you’ve perhaps experienced more disappointment than delight. It was the phase during which Pakistan clearly had the wood over India. We did have our heroes in Sunil Gavaskar (at the fag end of his career), K Srikkanth, Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri, Navjot Singh Sidhu and Md Azharuddin, who were later joined by the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath, but you always envied the abundance of natural talent that Pakistan possessed, especially when it came to the pace bowling department.

The unmistakable swagger of Imran Khan, the air of confidence that accompanied Wasim Akram and the touch of arrogance that oozed out of a Javed Miandad or a Saleem Malik left many an Indian fan a touch provoked but also a lot more nervous. The turn of the new century, however, saw India slowly but surely begin to reassert its dominance. And today, the situation is such that despite Pakistan’s penchant for unpredictability, an Indian loss would be considered a big upset.

To trace this changing face of the rivalry, we have to go back to 1952, when the two sides first met in a Test series in India. It had been just about five years since Pakistan had been carved out of India and the wounds of partition hadn’t completely healed. Losing wasn’t an option. Early into partition, India obviously had a head-start, given its size and the existing pool of talent. So, from 1952 to the turn of the next decade, India held a minuscule edge, winning two of the 15 Tests and losing one. The 12 draws were an indicator of how neither team wanted to lose, given the kind of backlash one would face in their respective countries.

The two wars between the countries in 1965 and 1971 meant there was no bilateral cricket from 1962 to 1977. From the 1978 series in Pakistan till the mid-1980s, the teams enjoyed almost equal success against each other. Call it a mere coincidence or the deep scar left on the psyche of the players, India did struggle against Pakistan post Miandad’s six, with four needed for win, off the final delivery from Chetan Sharma in the 1986 Asia Cup final in Sharjah.

Stats reveal that post this traumatic loss and up until the advent of 2000, India lost a whopping 39 ODIs out of 61 while winning 19 -- three matches ended without a result. The script changes definitively post 2000, with India winning 26 of the last 47 matches and losing 21. In the last decade, India have held complete sway over Pakistan, clinching 10 of the 14 matches.

Bilateral engagements have always been victims of political tensions between the two countries and hence there have been fewer Tests than one would have liked to see. But here too, the pattern is similar (see the box). T20 is a relatively new format but it’s even more lopsided in favour of India, who have emerged victorious in seven of the eight face-offs.

It’s, therefore, the ODIs that define the true nature of India-Pakistan rivalry. Does one need any special mention of India’s 7-0 record in 50-over World Cups? By 2000, most of the players that played through the late 80s and 90s had retired, the ghosts of Sharjah didn’t haunt the fresh faces, and a confident, occasionally brash crop of emerging India carried no baggage of the past. But the one thing they didn’t fail to imbibe -- can’t lose to Pakistan.

And the cherry on the cake has been the emergence of an exciting bunch of pace bowlers that can pay back in the same coin.