It’s Panikstan for a reason!

Two of cricketrsquos greatest rivalriesmdashIndia v Pakistan and Australia v Englandmdashwere played in a 24hour period during the 2024 T20 World CupWhile these fierce rivalries still generate great excitement the Australia v England bout fell short of expectations with Australia winning the T20 match comfortably India versus Pakistan always creates hysteria and once again this was the case even in New York as there are plenty of expats from both countries living in the USAGoing into the heavyweight bout India had only lost one World Cup contest to Pakistan and that was in the 2021 T20 formatThis imbalance was partly explained years ago by a decorated Indian cricketer ldquoPakistan tries to impress Indiardquo he explained ldquowhile we are only interested in having an impact on the WestrdquoPakrsquos poor historyPakistan cricketrsquos previous history may also help explain Indiarsquos stranglehold in their World Cup encounters In early 1973 the Pakistan team were described as Panikstan because of the suicidal nature of their 92run loss to Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground They then confirmed their newly acquired nickname by losing the third Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground by 52 runs despite only chasing a moderate target of 159The Panikstan moniker was to the fore again in the 2024 World Cup as Pakistan lost a crucial contest to India in New York After manoeuvring into a strong position where they were predicted to win Pakistan capitulated and lost a lowscoring encounter by six runsThis was yet another typical big brother over little brother victory and that syndrome has weighed heavily on Pakistan in World Cup encountersYet in Toronto in 1996 the two teams mixed amicably in a series at the suitably named Cricket Skating and Curling club The fivematch series was tied at twoall when one Indian player hilariously noted ldquoThe soldiers are lined up at the border armed with rocks but they donrsquot know which way to throw themrdquoSo well did India and Pakistan get on that I asked a mixed group of players ldquoWhy do the two countries fight wars when the players socialise comfortablyrdquoThe answer was revealing and yet concerning ldquoWe understand each other and eat similar foodrdquo said an Indian player ldquoand the people generally get on well but the politicians of each country like to keep the aggro simmeringrdquoAlso Read India vs Pakistan Where cricket balls fly and diplomatic pleasantries dieThe pitches in the USA again generated controversy This is particularly so of the New York venue which attracted a lot of negative publicity and proved to be difficult for batsmen In many cases a score just exceeding 100 proved to be a matchwinnerThe USA reputation for providing dodgy pitches isnrsquot a recent one In September 1999 I covered an India A v Australia A fivematch series in Los Angeles where the respective skippers were VVS Laxman and Adam Gilchrist both of whom went on to enjoy illustrious international careersThe pitches on that occasion could only be described as lsquoropeyrsquo especially when genuine pace men like Brett Lee operated Dodgy pitches were accepted with a shrug of the shoulders in 1999 but with the USA qualifying for the Super Eights and being promoted as a viable cricket nation this is not good enough Mind you USA cricket has long been wracked by organisational turmoil and this could be yet another example of the chaos that exists among their administrationIndia v Australia a blockbusterWhile T20 pitches should never totally favour batsmen therersquos no excuse for surfaces that are considered dangerous Therersquos a highly competitive cricket rivalry still to be played in the Super Eightsmdash India v Australia This has become a blockbuster contest in recent years Even if these two teams provide yet another exciting contest it shouldnrsquot camouflage the USA problem If cricket wants to make headway in the USA it has to vastly improve the administration and their pitches while also convincing locally born players itrsquos a game worth playing2021The only time Pakistan have won a World Cup contest over Indiamdashin the Twenty20 format