Pakistan versus India or Australia versus England. Ashes has been the oldest rivalry in cricketing history. It has been more than 100 years now and it included great players like Don Bradman and Steve Waugh, but does this means is this the most anticipated rivalry in cricket today. To me it is not even a rivalry. rivalry is usually between teams which are equally balanced. Can manchester united could have rivalry with leeds united?. Aussies have always dominated ashes. They have won ashes with more than 4.1 ratio. the real rivalry i think is Pakistan vs India. both teams are always well balanced and their every match is as unpredicted as it could get. both teams could beat each other any given day. India came to Pakistan and won test series 2.1 and than pakistan went to india, and after a year Pakistan went to india, and were able to tie the series 1.1. Pak Ind rivarly is more than winning losing. it is more than the game of cricket. you could care less about cricket but when it comes to Pakistan vs India match, you will have to be supporting your native country. For me ashes is only good for making records. every year Australia try to break their old records and try to make new one. For me it is not even a rivalry. The real rivalry has to be against teams which are well balanced and i cannot find any rivalry which is as anticipated as Pakistan vs India.
Comments will be appreciated

What did Rameez Raja say back in 2004 before the PakIndo clash?

"Pakistan vs India, this is what cricket is all about."



RealPk

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[Yaad rakho yaaro: "Shahid Afridi, the most unique player in the world."]

emotions get attached with every Indo-Pak games.. somethin which is normally missin in the Ashes... !!!

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these matches r always rocking , all the plyrs play their heart out

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Har Safar tanha kata...Duur Duur kuch na dhika...Tera hi tha woh Asra...Tu bhi to mujhe na mila

Originally Posted by RealPk

What did Rameez Raja say back in 2004 before the PakIndo clash? "Pakistan vs India, this is what cricket is all about." RealPk

Rameez Raja was wrong. This statement is false and is an impediment is the growth of both teams. Cricket is much much more than just India vs Pakistan.

Australia-England:

I have quite a few English and Australian friends and one thing I know for sure is that the English are much more obssessed with Ashes than the Australians (though both value the Ashes as the most prestigious trophy). The reason probably is that Australia has won it often enough to grow out of it. The biggest reason why England cricket fails to prosper is Ashes (or rather their mentality regarding Ashes). They spend the entire year preparing for the Ashes and in the process regard all other tournaments as practice matches. I distinctly remember English players commenting that the Champions trophy will be a good practice session before the Ashes. They lost in both. Winning is a habit and it must be developed.

On the other hand, Australia takes every challenge seriously, win matches habitualy and win the Ashes as well. They do attach a lot of importance to the Ashes but dont ignore other tournaments either. Everytime they play, they play to win.

Ashes has a long history. The game associates passion and if one could measure, one would find that the passion is as high as India-Pakistan matches generate. But its just that the English express themselves in a much softer way.

India-Pakistan:

I feel that sometimes, in the great passion for the rivalry itself, we Indian and Pakistani fans forget about one important thing- cricket. We just see wins and losses and forget to enjoy the game itself. We fail to see the wonderful talents of our own players and that of the opponent players. We go so overboard with victory and losses that we lose our minds.

Just imagine.....Pakistan lost to India in 1996 and a man shot his tv before shoting himself. Before that, Indian once lost to Pakistan in a close finish game (cant remember which one) and an Indian has a heart attack and he died at the hospital. This is sure passion, but its mixed with craziness and foolishness.

But one thing is for sure.....Indian and Pakistani audiences produce the most electric atmospheres on the cricket grounds across the world. We make the players also warm up to their best. We take cricket very very seriously.....perheps more seriously than we should.

Comparing the two famous rivalries, I would rate India-Pakistan a bit above Australia-England. As stated already, Australia has dominated the rivalry so much that ist almost over.