The India vs Pakistan cricket match isn’t just one of the biggest rivalries in cricket, but in the entire sporting history. Very few rivalries have been able to compete with the intensity this match brings, so much so that Netflix decided to release a miniseries with the title ‘The Greatest Rivalry’. However, there is another side to the story that gets comparatively lesser focus than the seething animosity between the fans of both sides. It is the unity this match brings across borders.
Yes, India vs Pakistan is a high-octane match that grasps everyone’s attention. But in doing so, people often forget that it also becomes an occasion to bring them together irrespective of the situation. On 23rd February’s, Sunday, match between the two sides was no different. More than 60 crore people watched the game on JioHotstar alone, the streaming platform for the ongoing Champions Trophy. Here’s all the ways the India – Pakistan match is also a unifying factor rather than a disuniting one:
1. It Brings Families Together
Sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, granddads, grandmoms, uncles, aunties, and every other relative find a reason to come together to watch this match. Some families that are scattered across places, also find a reason to unite. Sometimes they all gather physically together to watch the game, and other times it is over digital modes of communication.
On 23rd February, when Virat Kohli scored a magnificent hundred as he hit the winning runs, it brought a smile to every Indians’ face. Not just in India, videos surfaced from across the border in Pakistan of how several Pakistani fans were celebrating Kohli’s hundred. The beauty of it lies in the deep admiration for the game and the players. While it’s without a doubt that the loss would’ve hurt Pakistani fans, they could still enjoy a modern-day batting maestro’s scintillating innings.
Occasions like these sometimes wash away strained relations, provide comfort to hurt people, start a conversation between fathers and sons or even mothers and daughters, allow them a happy little break from the daily monotony of life, and bring joy in abundance. The unifying factor works in miraculous ways, and none more so than an India-Pakistan match for these two countries.
2. The Deep Admiration Teams Share for Their Opposition
Pakistan and India have always had a long and intense relationship in cricket, sometimes teetering on tension. However, it has never stopped players from either side from praising their opposition. As India has won more matches over Pakistan of late, it never stopped Pakistani players from showering praises over Indian players.
Take Virat Kohli for example, who scored a brilliant hundred on 23rd February. From Pakistani captain Mohammad Rizwan to former legends like Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, everybody praised the man with 51 ODI hundreds. Indian star pacer Jasprit Bumrah has earned accolades from every corner of Pakistani media.
In fact, the Pakistani media show ‘The Pavilion’, which hosts former players like Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis and is anchored by Fakhar-e-Alam, has even invited Indian cricket experts like Nikhil Chopra and Ajay Jadeja to their mix.
This also shows that the so-called rivalry between both sides doesn’t extend beyond the ground and into the cricketing fraternity or cricket discourse fraternity. This assertion is, of course, exempt from the online vitriol and toxicity, and the politics of it all.
3. India – Pakistan Have a Shared History
Ever since Pakistan’s birth as a nation in 1947, India and Pakistan developed rivalries across borders. But due to their shared culture, traditions, and history, people from both nations often found common ground to bond over. Cricket, more than anything, has been the biggest bonding factor between both countries.
There was already a deep love for cricket in an undivided India before 1947. In 1952, Pakistan toured India for a 5-test match series, which India won 2-1. That was the beginning of it all. From 1952 to 2025, while many things have changed between both nations, the unfathomable love for cricket hasn’t.
This, coupled with the fact that India and Pakistan don’t play bilaterals now, makes their ICC meet-ups even more special.
4. A Common Language Brings Them Closer
Throughout the history of India-Pakistan rivalries, there have been many instances where players have either exchanged jibes, or sledges, or rudimentary words to one another. While it is otherwise done in English between teams, India and Pakistan often had the commonly understood language – Hindi/Urdu. Both languages are very similar and either can understand the other.
Due to this factor, there have been innumerable instances of on-field verbal exchanges between Indian and Pakistani players. All of those have become fond memories and stories for them. Sunil Gavaskar often recalls a story about Javed Miandad and Dilip Vengsarkar on the field where they kept fighting each other. Later on, Shoaib Akhtar often used to get involved in a tussle with the likes of Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Gautam Gambhir, etc. The interesting part though, was that they returned to being the best of friends the moment the game was over.
Although of late, the fights and the verbal quarrels have dialed down between players from both sides, the camaraderie remained. We saw Virat Kohli hug Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan after the latter duo chased down India’s total of 151 in 17.3 overs with 10 wickets in hand. Though Kohli faced a lot of heat online for fraternizing with them immediately after the heavy loss, larger sections of society saw that as a beautiful moment that unites and binds the people of both nations together. Pakistani pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi also gifted a basket to Jasprit Bumrah after the birth of his son Angad.
5. Atmosphere Around the Stadium
Anytime India plays a cricket match, Indian fans swarm the stadium in bulk numbers to support their favorite team. Any time Pakistan plays a cricket match, their fans do the same. And when it’s India vs Pakistan, the fandom around the stadium from both sides is off the roof. The atmosphere is electrifying and the noise is deafening.
Amidst this hullabaloo, the fans from both nations also get a unique opportunity to mingle with each other. While there will be a rivalry going on during the game, people across the borders can still get to spend enough time after the steam has blown over. This cricket match, i.e. India vs Pakistan, thus provides one of the rare, unique opportunities to people from both countries to share stories, meet up with each other, and maybe even right the wrong in some cases.
As Revsportz reported during the India-Pakistan clash in Nassau County, New York during the 2024 T20 World Cup that a Pakistani fan named Ali Ahmed said, “Cricket is what brings both of these nations together, and like me, a lot of Pakistani people love India and its people.” Additionally, the food from both nations is similar, thus the stalls outside the stadiums can easily cater to customers from both countries.
Other Heartening Examples and Conclusion
There are countless examples throughout cricketing history where either a Pakistani cricketer or an Indian cricketer has shown heartwarming gestures towards their opposition. Be it Wasim Akram gifting something personal to Sachin Tendulkar in 1999, or Shikhar Dhawan and Mohammad Hafeez sharing a candid moment before a match, or Virender Sehwag asking Inzamam-ul-Haq about a field change, or Virat Kohli gifting his bat to Mohammad Amir, Indian and Pakistan cricket have always shared a heartening relationship, one that often brings unity among fans. This always goes hand-in-hand with the intense rivalry.
The reason why the India – Pakistan match becomes a unifying factor is due to the incredible importance this match carries. The importance in turn is born out of the high political tensions between both nations, which again, is the cause for the rivalry. Therefore, ironically enough, the same reason that causes this intense rivalry also brings about unity.
The match on 23rd February, where Pakistan scored 241 and India chased it down with 6 wickets in hand, was just another example that embodied the spirit of the rivalry as well as the beauty of unity and camaraderie.
