Cricket's Fiercest Rivalry

The world's most watched rivalry is between two neighboring nations that once shared the same border, culture, tradition, land, and even people. But now both are on different paths and oppose each other at every turn of the globe.

India-Pakistan's cricket match, a treat for the entire world, is a match full of emotions, excitement, thrills, and nail-biting moments. Apart from this, the India-Pak match also plays an important role in commerciality. Even the International Cricket Council knows it because of the 2022 ICC T-20 World Cup, which was held in Australia. The Melbourne Cricket Ground, the largest cricket ground in Australia and the second largest in the world, was reserved for the India-Pakistan match. Even the home team, Australia, had to play their group stage match with New Zealand at the Sydney Cricket Ground. This match also accounts for one-third of global tournament viewership. 

The fact that India and Pakistan haven't played a bilateral series in over a decade is one of the main reasons for this popularity, because of safety restrictions. So audiences get only one to two matches per year. But we can't deny the fact that the whole world eagerly waits for their archrivals to play. 

Let me give you an example, so you can get a clear idea of this match's popularity: let's take the 2019 ODI World Cup.

Match 1: The Final at Lord's was played between England and New Zealand, which tied; the Super Over was also tied; the winner was decided on a boundary count. This seems to be more exciting as the winner is not decided until the last ball.

Match 2: The Group Stage match between India and Pakistan, which India won by the DLS method by 89 runs, was one-sided.

But the viewership for match two was 20 percent higher as compared to the final.

In every sport where the two teams face off, the rivalry is as fierce as in cricket.

Thank You,

SPVK

Please comment down your thoughts about blog, suggestions and subscribe if you like my work.