As India consistently dominates their one-sided clashes against Pakistan, former cricketers and fans of the game claim that the commercial value of this once-famous matchup is declining, at least across the border.
Since the players were expected to give it their all on the field following the strong stance taken by the nation’s administration during the recent impasse with the ICC, India’s triumph on Sunday has hurt Pakistan harder than before.
However, the 61-run loss served as a depressing reminder of the current disparity. In the T20 World Cup, India has won eight of nine games against Pakistan. This comes after Salman Ali Agha’s team suffered three straight losses at the Asia Cup the previous year.
Due to India’s overwhelming dominance in white-ball cricket, Pakistan has not won an ODI against the bitter rivals since the Champions Trophy final victory in 2017.
Lt General (rtd) Tauqir Zia, a former chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, observed that the highly anticipated matches are losing commercial value in the ICC with each defeat.
“The fact is Pakistan and India matches have become too one-sided. This time the hype built up because the PCB announced the boycott of the game against India then un-boycotted it. But sooner or later the Pakistan and India games will lose their value to the ICC and member boards,” PTI quoted Zia as saying.
Former star cricketers who played for Pakistan and won several matches against India in the 1980s and 1990s, including Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar, Saqlain Mushtaq, Ramiz Raja, and Aamir Sohail, are now commentators.
Shoaib and Saqlain claim that watching the recent India-Pakistan matches is a difficult experience for them.
“Where is that character and fire that we had when we played India? Yes we lost some matches but everyone knew it was always going to be a tough match,” Shoaib said.
Saqlain further recalled that Wasim Akram and other veteran cricketers would encourage players to keep going whenever Pakistan played India.
“I remember how we won that Test against India in Chennai in 1999. Sachin was (Tendulkar) batting and as India inched closer to victory, Wasim bhai kept on urging us that we just need Sachin’s wicket and we will win. Where is that spirit in this team?” he asked.
