Historically,
the Ashes is regarded as cricket’s showpiece series. Yet, the significance of
the Ashes has waned in recent times. The Asian cricket playing countries, in
particular, believes it does not deserve the billing it enjoyed in the bygone
past as a contest between two talented sides. From 1989 to 2005, Australia
took the Englishmen to the cleaners. But things changed in 2005. After almost 18
years, England
regained the Ashes and since then it hasn’t been one-sided.
The diminishing value of Ashes coincided with the increasing worth of India
and Pakistan as
cricketing forces. The two sides boasted some of the most talented cricketers
and when the two teams met on the field of play, memories of their tragic past
and the wars they fought along the border they shared added a sharp needle to
the contests. Players on both sides came under the kind of pressure they never
felt playing against any other side and as a result, the two teams unfolded some
of the most memorable Tests and ODIs in the history of the game. This was the
single biggest difference in the India-Pakistan contests compared to Australia-England;
they were hotly contested.
Inzamam-ul
Haq’s Pakistan
was annihilated in Australia . Inzi came to India
with one of the weakest Pakistan
teams ever to tour India .
But he and his men raised the bar when it counted most, making cricket pundits
believe that an Indo-Pak clash will always transcend the limits of tensions and
enthusiasm.
I
hardly found the Ashes interesting during my school and college days; for me,
it was the riveting India-Pakistan contests. Sadly, there wasn’t any Indo-Pak
Test clash for a major part of the 90s because of political disputes between
the two neighbours. Cricket became a casualty. The world missed epic clashes
between bat and ball… Sachin Tendulkar against the might of Wasim Akram and
Waqar Younis. Surely, Waqar bouncing Tendulkar would have been a more
fascinating sight than Shane Warne teasing the spineless English team of the ’90s.
The
Indo-Pak Test series got going again in 1999 and turned out to be one of the finest series of the ’90s. Memories of that series are still fresh … Saqlain
Mushtaq’s doosra which baffled the Indian team throughout the series…Tendulkar’s
epic defiance at Chennai…the Chennai crowd’s standing ovation to Pakistan
team after a nerve-jangling finish… Anil Kumble’s 10 wickets haul at the Kotla…Shoaib
Akhtar putting the vociferous Kolkata crowd to silence after castling
Tendulkar for a first-ball nought.
Then
followed another five-year break. The two giants resumed play again in 2004 and
continued till 2007. Virender Sehwag’s triple ton at the Multan Test in 2004,
Abdur Razzaq and Kamran Akmal’s heroics in the drawn Test at Mohali in 2005,
Younis Khan’s 267 in the Bengaluru Test in 2005, Tendulkar’s 141 in the
Rawalpindi ODI in 2004, Mohammad Asif slicing the cream of the Indian batting line-up at the Karachi Test in 2006 and Irfan Pathan’s hat-trick in the very
first over of the Karachi Test in 2006 are moments that are a part of cricket’s
folklore. Many records were re-written and many moments of glory essayed.
Nothing
matches an Indo-Pak battle. Whenever these two teams clash, players of the two
sides and their supporters experience a rare adrenalin-rush. The tension is
immense and one does not experience dull moments in play.
It’s hard to predict
the outcome of an Indo-Pak clash. Sadly, since 2007 no Test series or an ODI
series took place between these two amazing cricketing nations.
The
Australians and the Englishmen never had interruptions in their epic battle for
the Ashes. The Ashes remains the most enduring, if not the most riveting,
rivalry. Yes, the epic Indo-Pak on-field encounters are much bigger than the
Ashes.
Note:
This article has been published in Cricket Country on 14/07/2011 India vs Pakistan is cricket's greatest series
Thank
You
Faisal
Caesar
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