India Vs Pakistan, Asia Cup 2025: A Rivalry In Decline, A Victory Laden With Symbolism - What To Read?

As expected, India defeated Pakistan in their Asia Cup 2025 Group A clash on Sunday (September 14, 2025) by seven wickets and more than four overs to spare.

Personally, I cannot understand why people still get so excited (the ones who do) about India vs Pakistan matches. In the rivalry’s present state, the results are almost a foregone conclusion, and the systematic dismantling of the Pakistan cricket team by the Indians was as clinical as it gets.

Captain Suryakumar Yadav and his team refused to shake hands with their Pakistani counterparts after the game and dedicated the victory to the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack in a largely symbolic gesture. But I doubt it would have assuaged the feelings of hurt that a large segment of Indians still carry in their hearts.

How India-Pakistan Rivalry Has Waned

Showdowns between these two teams were rightly considered to be among the most intense contests in the world of sport till recently and were often the most anticipated, most followed, and most viewed of all sporting encounters. The intense rivalry has repeatedly produced sparkling cricket, played on both sides by some of the greatest exponents of the game, over the years.

But that sadly, is history now and Pakistan teams in recent years have been a mere shadow of the great Pakistani sides of the past.

That storied rivalry has degenerated and is now almost a thing of the past, as increasingly evident from the one-sided results of recent India-Pakistan encounters on cricket grounds around the world. And somewhere along the way, that sporting equation will need to be restored by Pakistan to its former glory, before these contests can thrive and become meaningful again.

Asia Cup Helping Or Hindering India?

My personal view is that the Asia Cup is more of a commercial venture now, than of any significant value or importance from a cricketing point of view, even though it may be argued that it is a part of our preparations for the ICC T20 World Cup. I say this primarily because of the huge, overall decline in cricketing standards of the other major Asian Test-playing nations: Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Other than the nationalistic and emotional connotations that an India vs Pakistan clash still generates, it is now way down the scale as a cricketing contest. And for that matter, I strongly suspect, the same would be true of India vs Sri Lanka and India vs Bangladesh matches as well.

As a former first-class cricketer and die-hard fan, these do not particularly interest me anymore and probably for the first time I did not feel like watching an India vs Pakistan match, and limited myself to occasionally checking the scores from the Dubai clash on my mobile. I suspect that would have been the case for many cricket fans, the world over.

My personal view, again, is that these matches might actually be doing a disservice to the preparations of the Indian team, for the more serious contests ahead. By breeding complacency from easy pickings and by causing the team to peak too early, long before it actually needs to. And I say that, knowing full well as a former player, that there is nothing like match or tournament practice to ‘settle’ a team.

The Larger Question

Then there is also the larger question of whether we should be playing Pakistan at all, at this time. Our cricketing ties have always been characterised by a pattern of disruptions and stoppages, extending for many years at a time in the past. This includes one as long as 17 years, from 1961 to 1978, when diplomatic relations between the two nations soured after two full-scale wars in 1965 and 1971.

In the past, South Africa was banned from international cricket for 20-plus years, from 1970 till the end of 1991, for their apartheid policies, at a time when they were arguably the best Test side in the world, having thrashed Australia 4-0 in the 1970 series. History tells us what that did to the cricketing careers of some of the greatest young players in the game of the time.

But it was the right thing to do, a necessary sacrifice for the greater good. And India was a prominent voice in the protests of the time.

Even though sport brings people together and bridges the spaces that divide, maybe it would be a good idea to take a closer look at that bit of history as well, before deciding on the way forward.

The views and opinions expressed are those of the author. The author is a veteran Wing Commander of the Indian Air Force, who has played Ranji Trophy for Services.