The Greatest Rivalry: India vs Pakistan

What a series!! This documentary series masterfully captures the essence of the India-Pakistan cricket rivalry that transcends mere sports to embody the complexities of their shared history and cultural heritage. It expertly weaves together archival footage, interviews with cricket legends and insightful commentary from journalists and analysts and delves into the tumultuous history of India-Pakistan relations.

In 2004, Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee played a significant role in reviving cricketing diplomacy. The Indian team toured Pakistan in 2004, a series that was as much about cricket as it was about politics and diplomacy and that series also ended the 15-year hiatus in cricket between two countries. And India emerged victorious on Pakistani soil.

Shoaib Akhtar's candid admission sums up the intensity of the series: "Jitne ke liye nahi khel rahe thhe, bachane ke liye khel rahe thhe!" (We were playing not to win but to survive). "The glory is in struggle!". The true triumph of the Indian team, however, went beyond the scoreboard as they were met with an unexpected yet heartwarming response from the Pakistani people.

Unfortunately, I missed watching this series live and couldn't even catch the highlights, but the documentary brought back the excitement and tension of that iconic series.

The documentary also highlights the art of reverse swing, a technique that Pakistani bowlers like Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis mastered. It also reveals how Pakistani bowlers would scratch one side of the ball to create uneven wear and then hide the ball while bowling to conceal the shiny surface. This will cause reverse swing leaving batsmen bewildered.

Through interviews with cricket legends like Virender Sehwag, Shoaib Akhtar and Sourav Ganguly, the documentary provides a nuanced understanding of the intense passion and pressure that define India-Pakistan cricket matches.

Did you know Sehwag had a unique technique to focus on his batting? He would often sing a song in his mind, synchronizing its rhythm with the bowler's delivery. And surprisingly, his go-to song was 'Samne Ye Kaun Aaya, Dil Mein Machi Hulchal' that helped him get into the zone!! The Sultan of Multan!!!! :-)

Despite the great cricket rivalry between India and Pakistan, the players from both countries share a deep desire for peace and brotherhood. Sport has the power to unite people across borders and cultures. Let's hope that it can inspire a more peaceful and harmonious relationship between India and Pakistan. Amen! It's a powerful reminder of the enduring appeal of sports to bring people together, even in the face of deep-seated differences. A must watch.

Many players are even shown very less or totally ignored. World Cup winners like Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Kohli are totally ignored. Even legends like Sachin, Yuvi, Harbhajan, Zaheer khan, Ajit Agarkar, Azhruddin, Gautam Gambhir, Navjot Sidhu, Ajay Jadeja, Vengasarkar, Surya K Yadav and apne Ravi Shastri ji . And many more from even Pak too.

Big names like Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma were totally missed. That what I call a incomplete picture. If you can consider R. Ashwin and Dhawan then why not these legends.

Kumble tool most wickets against Pak followed by J srinath. Players like Shoaib Malik and Suresh Raina are also not mentioned.

I haven't seen a bigger waste of opportunity in a documentary ever. They missed so many big names of the rivalry. Why even bother making such a half-cooked documentary if you couldn't manage to get the players' interviews? And if it's supposed to deal with India vs Pakistan tours back in the 2000s, what's Ashwin and Dhawan doing in all of these? The shock factors make absolutely no sense. Shehwag and Akhtar were probably the only ones they could manage and made them blabber throughout the 3 episodes. Cringe, pathetic and a horrible attempt at a documentary. Not to mention, pretty damn biased as well.

You make a series on indo-pak from 1999-2005, with no mention of Sachin's batting exploits ? Even if it is pivoting on two series- 1999 and 2004, where are Sachin's great innings of Chennai, Rawalpindi or even Multan? The tide of the rivalry changed with Sachin's centurion knock- no mention of that? Sachin's catch of inzamam that turned the final ODI or that Googly to moin in Multan ?

Yaaawn! Same old tropes- Pakistan bowling great, sehwag's daredevilry.. tired of them now!

4 points- for Ganguly, Osman, Inzamam , Waqar interviews.. too much time to Akhtar and Sehwag interviews.

Even in the cursory Sachin tribute in the beginning- u talk about his 1992 World Cup exploits and video shows him batting in Sharjah in 1998.. why call it greatest rivalry- essentially it is only about 2 series, which too are inadequately researched... Might as well call it - Sehwag and Akhtar show.

Yet to see a good sports documentary coming from India.

While I enjoyed watching this 3 part show, this felt....very incomplete and wasn't what I expected it to be. The show is primarily from Sehwag and Shoaib Akthar's POV and the roles they played in the India's tour of Pakistan.

The cricket rivalry is more than the one tour and while there's some political context provided, it's not enough to do justice to the title of the doc. I understand that given the vast (cricketing) history between both these nations, it's not easy to make a documentary but just call it "2004 India tour of Pakistan" instead of making it sound like it's about the cricketing history. Plus, it's misleading this is mainly about the ICT making history in bilateral competition. If that's what you're going for, go all out telling the story from India's POV but they didn't do that either.

It's always fun to listen to people share stories and context you may not have known behind real life events, that was the only fun part about the show. But as much as I liked listening to everybody speak, it wasn't what was sold to me and it was too less. I mean, how do you make a documentary about India vs Pakistan cricket without the T20 final?

Watch it anyway, but go in without expectations and go in to listen to a handful of players talk about the context behind ONE series and you'll probably not be disappointed.