India and Pakistan fans on both sides of the border could barely contain their excitement Sunday as their nations met in a blockbuster T20 World Cup clash, a fixture many consider the beating heart of the game.
“Cricket needs an India-Pakistan contest -- you like it or not,” said 42-year-old businessman Prakash Goel in New Delhi.
“It brings in money, fans and most importantly excitement,” he told AFP, as India won the game by 61 runs to book a berth in the Super Eights.
The nuclear-armed neighbours, whose rivalry is considered one of the most intense in international sport, have not played a bilateral series in more than a decade and meet only in global or regional tournaments.
The current T20 event, co-hosted by Sri Lanka and India, has been overshadowed for weeks by political wrangling.
Bangladesh were kicked out for refusing to play in India, and Pakistan’s government then ordered its team to skip the highly anticipated Group A clash as a show of support for Dhaka.
The match was only cleared late Monday night after Islamabad made a dramatic U-turn on its order to boycott the blockbuster game.
Hundreds of cricket fans gathered across different cities in Pakistan on Sunday to watch their team take on arch-rivals India on big screens.
“This is the match we always want to see and pray our boys win the game,” Kalsum Naz, carrying her two-year-old son, said as she watched the game in Karachi.
Aziz Ahmed Mughal, 30, said he had been waiting eagerly for the game, as fans carrying national flags chanted slogans of “long live Pakistan”.
“I’m so excited to watch this match,” he told AFP.
In Colombo, the 35,000-seat R. Premadasa Stadium was sold out, with tickets going on the black market at more than four times their face value.
The TV audience for Sunday’s clash has been tipped to break all records.
Wild estimates of a billion-plus watching are often bandied about for India vs Pakistan games.
However, according to verifiable figures from the International Cricket Council, the most-watched match was the 2011 50-over World Cup final between India and Sri Lanka in Mumbai, which had 558 million unique viewers.
India’s win over Pakistan in the semi-final of that tournament is second, with 495 million.
However, the biggest and most lucrative clash in world cricket was only revived after frantic negotiations.
The governments of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka both wrote to their counterpart in Islamabad, urging it to change its stance and allow the game to go ahead. They got their wish just before midnight.
As action began Sunday, emotions ran high as every ball and shot was cheered or jeered in the high-stakes showdown between the uneasy South Asian neighbours.
“An India-Pakistan match is always a high-stakes contest,” said Rahul Gupta, 28, as he watched the game on TV at an eatery in Delhi.
“It’s a rare moment when conflict seems to pause, emotions run high, and I believe the game brings people together across borders.”
Harshit Roy, an 18-year-old fan, said a World Cup without an India-Pakistan clash was like a “cold drink without fizz”.
“The rivalry is historic... We love the battle of blue and green.”
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