One-Sided And Boring: India-Pakistan Has Turned Into An Underwhelming Spectacle

Ahead of the Champions Trophy clash between India and Pakistan today, Shubman Gill was asked about the actual relevance of the India-Pakistan rivalry, and whether the clash was ‘overhyped’.

This is what Gill had to say: “Everyone enjoys watching it. If so many people are happy to watch the match, then who are we to say that it is underhyped or overhyped?.”

Gill is not wrong. India-Pakistan is the most watched cricket match in the world for a reason; it’s a rivalry that has a rich history.

But after watching YET ANOTHER one-sided snoozefest between these two sides in 50-over cricket, is anyone genuinely craving India-Pakistan ODIs anymore? Especially when the contest has been shoved up our throats, event after event, with the draws deliberately and openly rigged.

These two sides have now played 9 completed ODIs since the start of 2015 and India have won eight of them. The margin of victories? 76 runs, 124 runs, 8 wickets, 9 wickets, 89 runs, 228 runs, 7 wickets and 6 wickets. 

In the last 10 years, there have been more ‘close games’ in 50-over ICC events between India and Zimbabwe than India and Pakistan. And that’s saying something, given India and Zimbabwe have faced each other in 50-over ICC events just once in the past decade. 

If you missed the clash between India and Pakistan today, good news: you did not miss much. For it was like every other India-Pakistan ODI we’ve seen in the past decade. Okay, maybe minus the one in the final of the 2017 Champions Trophy.

What does that mean, exactly?

Well, here’s the India vs Pakistan ODI starter pack since 2015: 

If Pakistan bat first -> Slow start, a bunch of tame wickets up-front, Pakistan going behind in the game before a ‘fighting’ partnership, a big wicket that triggers a collapse before Pakistan eventually ending up with a below-par total, India cruising to the target in the second innings. 

If India bat first -> Quick start from India, at least one of the top-order batters getting a century, a bunch of consolation wickets before a strong finish for India, and then eventually Pakistan getting eaten up by the Indian bowlers (in particular the spinners) in the chase, slipping to a heavy defeat.

The game in Dubai followed the ‘bat first’ pattern. 

In a way, the entire game was very identical to the clash between these two sides in the 2023 ODI World Cup, where India cruised towards a win after restricting Pakistan to a total well-below par. Heck, the progression of the match was eerily similar too, with the third Pakistan wicket cutting the innings open, enabling India to trigger a fatal collapse. 

The only hope for Pakistan was having India reeling in the powerplay but the game was as good as done when India’s score read 64/1 at the end of the 10th over. Never in a million years were they going to threaten this batting line-up with a one-man spin attack. 

The progression of the match itself was humiliating for Pakistan, but the final 30 minutes or so made an absolute mockery of the Men in Green. The whole clash went from ‘Can Pakistan stop India?’ to ‘Can Pakistan stop Kohli from scoring a hundred?’, and as it turned out, they couldn’t do either. 

Well, Shaheen Afridi tried his best by - allegedly non-deliberately - bowling wides to stop Kohli, but, in the end, he couldn’t. Nor could his team. 

And so at the end of the ‘grand spectacle’, India are all but through to the semis, while Pakistan are on the brink, needing a miracle to progress to the semi-finals. 

The situation the two teams currently find themselves in nicely sums up the absolute recent mismatch between them in this format too as while India have made it to the semis of every single major ODI event played since 2015, Pakistan have progressed to the final four of one tournament - which was eight years ago.

Welcome to India vs Pakistan in 2025, then: a rivalry that is no longer competitive, but is being made to look so, because, well, at the end of the day, $$$ is all that matters.