Beyond Runs and Wickets: The Epic Saga of India vs. Pakistan in World Cups So Far
ICC world Cup at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad. The India versus Pakistan match is often considered one of the most anticipated match in all of sporting history. But why? Often India or Pakistan have failed to lead in any sport, let alone cricket.
Any sport by nature includes an everchanging table of leaders, however, a match between India and Pakistan has been compared to being ‘five time bigger than Superbowl’, according to a CNN report. The answer should be obvious, isn't it? Pakistan and India used to be one land, who did not have a cordial break up when the British colonialists left. Bitterness crept into the relationship, with the horrors of partition.
Families have to leave their homeland because they did not follow the land's majority religion. Often nostalgia and pain has gripped families who were victims of partition. What began as drawing of a boundary line to build two different nations-India and Pakistan- transcended into mistrust, military wars among others.
In the 76 years that followed India and Pakistan have fought three wars and introduced heavy restrictions on exchanges of goods or civilians, despite the two countries sharing a border, a culture and a deeply intertwined history. However, what remained unchanged is the fanaticism around cricket, which incidentally is a legacy of British colonial rule. A cricket match between India and Pakistan has the potential to divide and unite within the same game.
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