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The biggest sporting clash in Australia this year will not be a Grand Final of any footy code, the Formula One or even the Australian Open tennis when Ash Barty broke the 44-year home-grown champion drought.
Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday will host one of world sport’s greatest rivalries when India take on Pakistan in their first appearance at the T20 World Cup.
The only thing that can put a dampener on this monumental meeting is Melbourne’s fickle weather with rain forecast over the next five days.
When tickets went on sale to the general public for this game in February, they sold out in five minutes.
Five minutes. As in, 300 seconds.
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Because these two nations don’t play bilateral series due to the security concerns from the political tensions that transcend their border, whenever they face off in an ICC tournament, an already significant clash takes on gargantuan proportions.
India’s Virat Kohli during the Asia Cup match against Pakistan in September. (Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images)
How massive?
These teams met twice at the recent Asia Cup in Dubai and the estimated viewing audience for each of those matches was around 230 million people tuning in.
And neither match was the final of the tournament.
Sunday’s game will be beamed back to India and Pakistan in the early hours of the afternoon, local time, virtually bringing each nation to a standstill.
In a sign that the rivalry and intensity surrounding these clashes is sky-rocketing, the previous year when they faced off in the T20 World Cup in the UAE, around 167 million fans were glued to their TVs and OTT devices, which made it the most viewed T20 game in history up to that point.
When they faced off in the ODI World Cup in England three years ago (a longer audience for viewers as it’s a day-long game), there were 273 million viewers with all but 40 million of them in India, according to figures released by the ICC.
If you had any doubt about why the centre of cricket’s universe has become India over the past few decades, these numbers are staggering.
India’s five matches in the Super 12 stage are likely to all be played before sell-out crowds – all tickets for the SCG match next Friday flew out the door the day they were made available even though it is still not known which qualifier will be the opponent.
Fans in the Indian city of Indore celebrate the victory over Pakistan in the 2015 World Cup with firecrackers and dancing in the streets. (Photo By Shankar Mourya/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)
The Indians will also fill Perth’s Optus Stadium and the Adelaide Oval before returning to the MCG for their final Super 12 fixture on November 6.
It’s a far cry from when they first played a World Cup in the land Down Under.
Three decades ago when Australia and New Zealand co-hosted the 50-over World Cup (there was no other kind in cricket back then), India weren’t given a game at the MCG, even when they played the host nation.
They were sent to a regional outpost in Mackay for what turned out to be a rain-ruined clash with Sri Lanka while also traversing to Hamilton and Dunedin, away from the main stadiums.
India beat Pakistan in ‘92 in Sydney but Imran Khan’s team had the last laugh when they stormed into the semi-finals, conquered the Kiwis in Auckland before Wasim Akram propelled them to glory against England in the first day-night final at the MCG.
They’ve faced off seven other times in one-dayers in Australia with India holding a 4-3 edge, the most recent clash with the 2015 ODI World Cup when Virat Kohli blasted 107 at Adelaide Oval as Pakistan fell 76 runs short in reply to 7-300.
Imran Khan celebrates with teammates after the 1992 Cricket World Cup final victory over England at the MCG. (Photo Tony Feder/Allsport/Getty Images)
Sunday’s game will be just the 12th match between the two nations in the brief 16-year history of T20 internationals. To put that into perspective, India and Pakistan have both played six nations 20 times or more during that timeframe.
Because their rivalry is such a guaranteed money spinner, the ICC is looking at any way possible to ensure they face off more often.
They have not squared off at Test level for 15 years and it’s been a decade since their most recent bilateral white-ball series,
There is a proposal gathering steam from the England and Wales Cricket Board for a single Test or potentially a series to be held in the UK.
Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ramiz Raja is a progressive administrator who is trying to get his nation a seat at the table alongside the big three of India, Australia and England.
Earlier this year he proposed a regular tournament between the four nations.
Raja was incensed last year when England cancelled their men’s team tour of Pakistan, which would have been their first since 2005, but relationships have been mended following the recent trip for a T20 series with the Test squad set to return in December.
The aptly and ominously named Board of Control for Cricket in India has been less reluctant to help Pakistan’s aspirations. Pakistani players are not allowed to play in the lucrative Indian Premier League.
When the tournament kicked off 14 years ago there were 11 Pakistani players scattered among the franchises, including star attractions like Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Akhtar.
But after the November 2008 Mumbai terror attack – orchestrated by the Lashkar-e-Taiba group in Pakistan – the Indian government severed ties with its western neighbour and the BCCI banned Pakistani players from the IPL.
With all this playing out in the background, the pressure on the players will be immense when they take the field at the MCG on Sunday.
(Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images)
Both teams are trophy contenders with teams containing powerful hitting and skilful bowling even accounting for injuries ruling Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah out of India’s attack.
Pakistan, under the captaincy of Babar Azam over the past three years, have been consistently dominant in the T20 format, with a 36-18 win-loss record since he took over.
They’ve tailed off a little bit this year with a 10-9 record after losing the recent series to England 4-3.
Rohit Sharma, following in the footsteps of Kohli after the controversial end of his captaincy, has also racked up an impressive record as India’s T20 leader with 35 wins from 45 outings. They have played a whopping 32 matches in the shortest format this year alone for 23 wins, eight losses and one washout.