Tuk-tuk vs Formula 1: India vs Pakistan rivalry only in name

Pakistan now becoming a speck in India’s rear-view mirror (Photo- X/BCCI)

This was once the most storied of sporting rivalries, one that the entire world would stop to watch. It was cricket’s equivalent of Glasgow’s Old Firm derby, with politics and religion adding to the cocktail that would inflame fan passions. When the leaders of India and Pakistan descended on Mohali to watch the World Cup semi-final in 2011, even international news channels led with it on their bulletins.

That was then. These days, the cricket mirrors Glasgow’s football. Only the colours are switched. In Scotland, the green-and-white hoops of Celtic have been lording it over the blue of Rangers for well over a decade. On the cricket fields, it’s India’s Men in Blue who have become utterly dominant. This is now a rivalry only in name, with India barely breaking sweat as they cantered to a seven-wicket win on Sunday night.

It stretched India’s head-to-head lead in T20Is to 10-3. In the same period (since 2007), they enjoy an 18-9 advantage in ODIs as well, with five of those Pakistan wins coming before 2010.

Pakistan started like the tortoise in the fable, and only got slower. At the end of 10 overs, they were 49-4, a scoring rate that would be deemed sluggish even in 50-over cricket these days. They didn’t nudge the scoring rate over a run a ball until Shaheen Shah Afridi came out and swung his bat at everything.

In sharp contrast, Abhishek Sharma smashed 31 from just 13 balls, making the chase a near-formality in the first four overs. For over a decade, Pakistan were tormented by Virat Kohli. Now, it seems there’s another Punjabi munda to pile on the misery.

Between them, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Varun Chakaravarthy bowled 12 overs for combined figures of 6-60. Axar stopped Pakistan’s brief revival with the wicket of Fakhar Zaman, Kuldeep bamboozled the middle order, and Varun ensured there would be no late flourish from Faheem Ashraf. They barely bowled a bad ball, and Pakistan just couldn’t escape the web.

One of the pre-match concerns had been about Suryakumar Yadav’s underwhelming displays against Pakistan in the past. On Sunday, he shepherded the chase after Abhishek’s dismissal, easing to an unbeaten 47 off 37 balls. There were only rare glimpses of the usual Surya pyrotechnics, but they weren’t needed given the gulf in class. He then won extra brownie points from the millions watching back home by dedicating the victory to the victims of the Pahalgam attack and their families.