The arch rivals India and Pakistan will face each other on Sunday (today) in the Twenty20 World Cup clash in Dubai and the buzz around the game defines the enduring appeal of the matchup between the sub-continent’s feuding neighbours.
Pakistan’s captain Babar Azam and his Indian counterpart Virat Kohli have called it just a game, like any other but that is clearly not the case.
Both the neighboring countries share a history of conflict and mistrust and remain at loggerheads over Kashmir.
India last hosted Pakistan in a bilateral series in 2013 and the teams now meet only in global tournaments, the last being the 2019 ODI World Cup in England.
The hype of the match can be decided tickets of the match were sold out hours after being put on sale
“I was involved in the games in 2014 and 2016. If you ask me, as a player, it was always a high-pressure game,” former India player Suresh Raina wrote for the ICC website on Saturday. “In the build-up, everyone is just telling you how big it is. The fans have enjoyed this rivalry over the years and it is cricket at its best.”
The 17,500 tickets for the game were sold out hours after being put on sale and television channels in both countries are running special shows on the match.
Dubai businessman Anis Sajan, who owned a franchise in UAE’s domestic T10 tournament led by England captain Eoin Morgan, said, “My inbox is flooded with requests for match passes.”
India Vs Pakistan, ‘bigger than Ashes’
Sajan who is the vice president of the Dubai based Danube Group said, “I’d say an India-Pakistan match is bigger than the Ashes. It may have become one-sided of late but emotions run high.”
Official broadcaster Star India, which has lined up an impressive array of sponsors for the tournament, acknowledges the commercial significance of Sunday’s match.
The head of Sports at Star and Disney India Sanjog Gupta said, “The India-Pakistan clash is one of the biggest matchups in the world of sports. The clash at an ICC event attracts core and casual cricket fans as well as viewers who don’t watch any other cricket.”
For the first time in Pakistan, marketplace and retail platform Daraz is live-streaming the World Cup on its digital platform and the response has been overwhelming.
The managing Director of Daraz Ehsan Saya said, “We have seen a massive surge in installs and daily active users on our platform. We are super excited to bring free streaming to Pakistanis and are confident our team will play their hearts out for our country.”
The clash of Time
This Sunday has become a dilemma for sports fans as the timing of this most-anticipated game clashes with other showdowns in the sports world as there are two other matches in football between the arch-rivals, Manchester United and Liverpool and Real Madrid and Barcelona.
The correspondent.pk media production head Aun Ahmed said that it was a very tricky choice for someone like him who’s equally mad about cricket and football to decide which match to prefer.
He added, “I’ll be watching the India-Pakistan match on television and follow the football updates on my mobile. Meanwhile, I will be making a video report on both of the matches for the Correspondent.pk.
