T-20 WC : India-Pakistan Match : Historical Trivia and a bad news

All eyes will be on the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday 23 October when India takes on Pakistan in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022.

Pakistan fans will have fond memories of the 10-wicket victory their side registered at last year's event, while India will be keen to extract some revenge for that thumping. That was the first and last time when Pakistan defeated India in World Cup. 

The hue and cry of the match can be assessed from the advertising rate. The recent clash between the cricket boards of India and Pakistan, the Diwali festival season, and the convenient timing of the encounter between the South Asian nations on Sunday afternoon have pushed up advertising rates for the Men’s T20 World Cup match in Melbourne, Australia.

In this exciting upcoming cricket match there is also blend of bad omen. The weather in Melbourne on October 23 could spoilsport the India and Pakistan T20 World Cup encounter. According to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology's weather update, Sunday would be cloudy overall in the Melbourne area with an 80% probability of showers, most likely in the evening. 

Quint in its article “Why India-Pakist match may be a curtailed affair” wrote that 

“90% or rain is expected in Melbourne on 23 October. The two sides meet in a blockbuster clash to open their Twenty20 World Cup campaigns at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday. About 100,000 fans have snapped up tickets for what is set to be a carnival atmosphere, although forecast rain could put a dampener on the party.”

Many consider the India-Pakistan match to be more of a mental contest than a physical one. The one single match could break or make 1.3 billion population’s diwali. 

Talking about history is very boring but when it comes to events of India and Pakistan Cricket match everyone glues to it.

Pakistan played no international cricket for five years after the Partition of British India in 1947. It toured India in 1952 when the two sides played their first Test match. 

Many of the early bilateral series between India and Pakistan were insipid affairs, ending in draws, including one in India in 1960-61. As the ties worsened - wars in 1965 and 1971 - the two sides did not play each other for 17 years until a diplomatic thaw allowed them to resume cricketing ties in 1978 with India visiting Pakistan.

The two sides played each other for the next two decades before politics again disrupted ties. This time India refused to play, accusing its neighbour of stoking the bloody insurgency in Kashmir region, an allegation Pakistan denied. A major diplomatic initiative after the conflict in Kargil led the Indian team travelling to Pakistan in 2003-2004.

The next four years saw yearly tours until the bloody November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks stopped bilateral tours. The only exception was when Pakistan toured India for a five game white-ball series in 2012-213, which it won 3-2. Pakistanis continue to be excluded from the Indian Premier League, the world's richest cricket tournament.

Indian players have always spoken about the love and admiration they have received from fans in Pakistan. Much before than what the millenials or Gen Z have witnessed in Tendulkar or Kohli era. In 1955, thousands of fans gathered at the Karachi airport to greet Indian cricketers. Whenever Indian players went shopping during Pakistan tours, shops would often refuse to take money from them.

These days social media battles are fought by fans who "believe that a win on a cricket field is conclusive proof that one political system or one religion or one nation is superior to the other". One of sport's biggest games and an unique rivalry continues to remain hostage to the tumultuous politics of the subcontinent.

Do not forget to check Match’s Squad

Squads

India: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Shami. Standby Players: Mohammed Siraj, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, Shardul Thakur.

Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood. Standby Players: Usman Qadir, Mohammad Haris, Shahnawaz Dahani.