Pakistan Cricket Team & Champions Trophy 2025 – will the real Pakistan stand up?

 

Being an Indian, I had always been fascinated by the Pakistan cricket team growing up in the 90s. The one-sided contests between India & Pakistan during ODIs in Sharjah & seeing India lose almost 90% of the time was heartbreaking. Yet I could find solace in 1 thing – we lost to a team with far superior bowlers & batsmen except for Sachin Tendulkar. I remember I was in my early teens & Sachin scored a marvelous 100 in Sharjah in 1996 just after the WC to win a match in Sharjah against Pakistan after almost a decade. I think that was the first time an Indian ODI team scored an excess of 300 with a brilliant cameo from Azhar at the end of the innings worthy of one of the great T20 innings played in this era.

Since the sports were televised in India on Star Sports (Prime Sports then in 1992), I had seen very few matches – only the ones that were telecasted on Doordarshan.

All the matches I remember between 1990 and 1996 between the 2 greatest rivals always resulted in heartbreak except for a couple of them in Sydney & Bengaluru in the WCs.

Around the same time, the fortunes of India turned a tide against if not going completely in favor of India in the new millennium. Despite a few heartbreaks in a couple of test matches in Chennai & Kolkatta in 1999, India from then on is almost on a one-way traffic against their arch-rivals.

Looking at the current state of affairs, the context between India and Pakistan has almost become one-sided with not much excitement left. Yes, for sponsors, ICC is a revenue-churning match, however, the actual context is beyond any comparisons. India has steamrolled Pakistan in almost all the matches with few exceptions like the CT Final in 2017; in the last 24 years.

Centurion, Mohali, Adelaide, Manchester, Ahmedabad – all have been one-way traffic.

The groups for next year's Champions Trophy are still unannounced, but it will be hardly surprising if India & Pakistan don’t land into 1 group again to generate excitement among the global cricket audiences. ICC, World Cricket needs Pakistan to stand up, the fans deserve to be treated to that kind of excitement which I felt as a teenager. During 90’s I used to always have the same feeling as Pakistan of today, we are losing to Pakistan today, but if we win that will be a bonus for us.

I think the same sentiment goes now for all Pakistan fans. I always had great admiration for cricketers like Imran, Wasim, Waqar, Saqlain & Inzy; however, the current lot of Pakistan cricketers don’t have the same aura.

PCB has roped in Gary Kirsten as their head coach & his tasks are cut out. He must get the Pakistan team on its feet very quickly & in time before the Champions Trophy in Feb 2025, or else I doubt we will again have a one-sided contest between India & Pakistan.

 

 

-       Madhur Kapoor (Cricket Enthusiast)