After back-to-back losses, Pakistan desperate for win against Afghanistan

CHENNAI: Never has the dictum ‘Cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties’, sounded more felicitous than when implacable neighbours separated by the Durand Line clash in a rivalry that is yet to evolve into a strapping adult from the rudimentary form of evolution it finds itself in.

Even so, with the Pakistan and Afghanistan rivalry still in its infancy, it contains all the necessary ingredients - the unremitting in-your-face aggression, the unending bad blood that spews the venom of a Russell’s viper - making it every bit as emblematic as George Orwell’s oft-quoted remark ‘sport is war minus the shooting’.

Now, if you are the kind with a penchant for numbers and statistics, you would just shrug it off as mere hyperbole, a futile and gratuitous attempt at hyping a match that is completely undeserving of such lofty status, vehemently arguing that it should be bestowed upon the ‘Big Two’ across the Radcliffe Line, instead.

However, numbers don’t always depict the true and complete picture and when seen specifically through the prism of this match’s context, they fall well short of capturing the emotional fervour and the visceral feelings of hostility that tends to boil over at the slightest hint of provocation.

To truly get a full import of what this match means to both sets of players and, more pertinently, their respective fans, you ought to be at the venue to get a feel of the fiery barbs that fly thick and fast along with the concomitant sparks. Regardless of the format of the game they are competing in, Pakistan and Afghanistan have become past masters at turning every match they contest into a humdinger. Consequently, you don’t have to jog your memory to recollect some of their memorable photo finishes that have been dished out with unerring regularity.

The ODI head-to-head record reads 7-0 in favour of Pakistan, heading into Monday’s match, but the Babar Azam-led outfit will grudgingly acknowledge the hardship it had to overcome in earning those victories. Their World Cup match at Leeds in 2019 is a case in point with Pakistan clinching it with just two balls remaining even as most Afghanistan fans were getting ready to break into a celebratory jig in the stands, thinking their team was going to emulate what Bangladesh did in May 1999.

Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott offered insights into what this contest means to his players in his interaction with the media on the eve of the match. “I think it’s a rivalry that excites them. It’s a rivalry that sometimes in the past has been very passionate. We’ve seen Asia Cup clashes and no closer than the T20 Asia Cup last year where it went down with Pakistan winning by one wicket. So, we’ve had very close games as well. It’s just the nature of the rivalry. And both teams, I think, respect each other, but are very desperate to win.”

If the matches between these two in the recent past are anything to go by, you might expect another cliffhanger that is heavy on theatrics.