The Greatest Rivalry: India Vs Pakistan
Introduction
India and Pakistan are two budding nations who already have had their fair share of highs and lows. From an unfortunate partition to the three wars that did follow, the relationship between the two countries has never been smooth sailing. However, the scenario drastically changes on the cricket field. There have been countless cricketing moments that have brought the people of the two countries together – be it the iconic 1982 series wherein a young Imran Khan ran through the Indian Batting lineup claiming as many as 40 wickets with the use of reverse swing. Or the famous ’99 Kotla test match that saw Anil Kumble being the first Indian and only the second overall (then) to claim 10 wickets in an innings. The overall ODI record tilts in favour of Pakistan majorly due to the immumerous wins that did follow following the last ball 6 by Javed Miandad. But the scenario changes in world cups with India having won all the matches barring that one infamous T20 loss in the 2021 Dubai world cup. In fact, three of the iconic moments that I can think of between India vs Pakistan was – one at Eden Gardens in ’99 that saw the arrival of arguably the fastest bowler on the planet Shoaib Akhtar, claiming Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar in successive balls. Two being the little master who blasted Shoaib out of the attack in his immaculate 98 run knock at Centurion that marked the start of the upper cut. Or the more recent example of Virat Kohli taking India home at the G in the 2022 world cup. Harsha Bhogle’s words of Kohli goes down the ground, Kohli goes out of the ground still reverberates in my ears even today. But why am I pointing these moments in my review of the new Netflix documentary titled ‘The Greatest Rivalry : India Vs Pakistan’ ? It is because these moments were barely captured in a documentary that yet again felt more like a cash grab.
The Good
Ask any 90s kid on which according to them is the most iconic India Vs Pakistan series, and probably more than 90 percent will tell you that it was the iconic 2003-2004 Friendship series between the two nations. The timeline was such that 90s kids would definitely by then have been more aware of the rivalry while often being deprived of the frequent matches due to the rising political tensions between the two nations. Hence, the focus of this documentary on the series of 2004 was a straight up nostalgia moment for me (as with everyone else), that did offer a chance to relive the iconic moments of the iconic series. Be it the hard-fought ODI series that saw India coming from behind to win it 3-2, with every match gaining a new hero for India. This, while an equally matched Pakistan ensured that the series did go down to the wire. Or even the start of the test series that marked the arrival of Virender Sehwag, being then crowned as the Sultan of Multan while being the first Indian to breach the 300 run barrier. Ask any 90s kid the exact score of Sehwag and the answer would be 309, given that the score was that iconic. And the manner in which Sehwag did get to that 300 landmark was also an iconic moment – stepping out on 295 against a world class Saqlain Mushtaq and smacking him for a six! And I could go on and on…
I also briefly enjoyed how the political climate played an important part in the days leading up to the series with the two Prime Ministers involved in resuming cricketing ties. You would notice that while the series itself was electrifying, the off the field friendships were strong as well. So when the documentary had Virender Sehwag, Shoaib Akhtar, Sourav Ganguly and Inzamam Ul-Haq coming together, and reliving their times on the field while praising the opposition whole-heartedly, you just knew the kind of bond that they shared. And that tour was a landmark tour because before that India hadn’t won a single series in Pakistan. The golden words of Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee telling our then Indian captain Sourav Ganguly to win hearts even if we were to lose matches, to Sourav replying that we will win hearts and matches, makes for an iconic moment in Indian cricket that also extends its friendship to Pakistan.
The Not So Good
The major problem that I had with the series was that it was trying too hard to bank on the nostalgia factor while serving everything that was vanilla. It never wanted to go deeper into the controversies that occured on the 2004 tour. Be it the infamous declaration by Rahul Dravid, leaving Sachin stranded on 194, or the murmurs of match fixing that erupted in whispers, none of the events were covered. Even the other major landmark of the series of Rahul Dravid achieving his career’s best score of 270, hardly gave me that high. But my issues with the documentary did not end there – the content on either side of the core 2004 series was simply feeble to evoke any sense of nostalgia. This, while conveniently skipping so many iconic events along the way (none of the events in my opening segment were even covered). And the ending of the documentary just felt like brief chapters from the Wikipedia page that never quite touched upon the depth of the IPL saga following the 2008 Mumbai attacks. It all seemed too rushed and straight like a cash-grab. If you were to ask me, this documentary was an episode or two short given that cramming every high and low of the two cricketing nation was itself a task inside three episodes.
My Final Take
There was a time in the 80s when the two governments of the countries were still at logger heads with each other. Yet, the BCCI and the PCB were literally hand-in-glove, so much so that they broke the monopoly of the English, in winning over the rights of the World Cup in order to be co-hosts for the very first time in 1987 (before that, The Prudential Cup was predecided to be held in 1983 for the last time). Such was the unity between the boards that over the years has only gotten sour. To give you a perspective, India and Pakistan have refrained from playing any bilateral cricket since 2012, while only meeting in ICC tournaments. Also, India’s reluctance to play the Champions Trophy in Pakistan was a major talking point that lasted almost right through the year. And while I hope peace and better sense prevails, the documentary had a golden opportunity to touch upon these aspects of the game that may have helped for a better perspective between the two nations. Just serving nostalgia was fine, but it did not soar above the obvious by serving something truly substantial which I could actually take away from the documentary. I kind of felt cheated (again) given how I have spilt more information in my review than the cash-grab documentary did over the course of its three episodes. Nostalgic yes, but also very disappointing.
Conclusion
The Greatest Rivalry – India Vs Pakistan is a documentary that rides high on nostalgia but ultimately is just reduced to a cash-grab, thereby leaving me with a lot more to be desired. It is a breezy watch with no real takeaways! Available on Netflix.
