The Greatest Rivalries in the History of Cricket

Cricket and India go back a long way, and it was in the year 1983 that the country’s national team won its first ever Cricket World Cup.

India and Pakistan in a file photo (Pic Credit-Twitter/ICC)
By Karthik Raman | Dec 2, 2022 | 4 Min Read follow icon Follow Us

Cricket is a sport that has a rich and storied history. Since the game was invented way back in the 16th century, cricket has evolved a great deal, and it goes without saying that it is one of the most popularly played – and watched – sports around the world, most notably in India. In India, cricket is not just a sport but a national obsession. Despite hockey being the country’s national sport, it is cricket that commands the largest audience base among all sports in the country. 

Cricket and India go back a long way, and it was in the year 1983 that the country’s national team won its first ever Cricket World Cup. This milestone in the game’s history in India helped to significantly increase the popularity of the sport in the country, and the sport has since gathered millions and millions of fans in cities, towns and villages alike. Consequently, it is only natural that people from India make up a large chunk of cricket’s fan base around the world.

The sheer popularity of cricket in all its formats has led to the inception of fantasy cricket. In fantasy cricket, fans of the sport get to be managers of their very own virtual cricket teams, which are composed of real world players, and these fantasy cricket teams earn points on the basis of how the real world cricketers perform on the day of the actual match. As of today, there are numerous apps available for people to sign up and join a fantasy cricket league.

Cricket is a game that is brimming with action and excitement, and a key characteristic of the sport is the often seen rivalry between teams and even their respective fans. Of course, as one might expect, these moments of rivalry are sources of immense enjoyment and thrill for fans, and they go down in history as special. 

Rivalries between teams as well as between individual players has always been a common feature in all kinds of sports, and one can say that these moments of high drama and occasional conflict add to the overall experience of the sport. These moments often get heated and sometimes lead to arguments and fights on the pitch, but they do make a cricket match that much more attention grabbing. 

Here are some of the most famous rivalries in the history of cricket:

  1. India and Pakistan

Perhaps no other pair of cricket playing countries gets as many eyeballs as India and Pakistan. The rivalry between these two countries is longstanding and can be traced back to the time when India became an independent country and Pakistan came into existence as a new country. The partition of India by the British is what had sowed the seeds for what would eventually become one of the most heated cricketing rivalries in the history of the sport. Of course, cricket matches have also often been used as tools for diplomacy between the two countries, with both sides trying to mend the historically strained relations through the sport as a common ground. India had never lost a match to Pakistan until India’s winning streak was broken by Pakistan in the 2021 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. 

  1. India and Australia

India and Australia are widely regarded as two cricketing powerhouses, and matches between these two countries are greatly enthralling. The rivalry between the Australian and the Indian national teams has gained prominence during the last two decades, most notably after the 2001 Test series that brought both the teams’ cricketing prowess to the forefront. India won the Test series 2-1 and it went down in history as one of the most thrilling. Since then, the Indian team has been giving the Australian team some pretty stiff opposition in various formats of the sport. However, both the countries have found it challenging to win Test matches on each other’s soil. Australia won in India in 2004 and India won in 2019, which goes to show how both teams struggle in each other’s home turf. 

  1. Australia and South Africa

There is a very noticeable rivalry in almost every sport that South Africa and Australia compete with each other in. Needless to say, this rivalry is visible in cricket as well. For a long time, the Australian cricket team was regarded as a formidable opponent of every other cricket team. This was until the South African team managed to pull off an upset in 2008-2009 that stunned spectators. South Africa had become the first team to defeat Australia on their home soil in sixteen years.

  1. England and Australia

The English and the Australian teams have the oldest rivalry in the history of cricket. It was in the latter part of the 19th century that the two countries had begun playing Test matches with each other, and the two teams have had some legendary performances ever since. The Test series between England and Australia is referred to as the Ashes Test, and the long running fight for the small urn remains a thing of awe and excitement for a large number of cricket fans not just from both the participating countries, but around the world as well. The English team has maintained a largely conservative approach to playing cricket. The Australian team, however, has been spearheading innovations in the way the sport is played and has introduced modern technology to their style of play. The Test series of the years 1981 and 2005 are particularly memorable for cricket fans. 

Cricket is a sport that has come a long way, and teams that were once regarded as the underdogs are now the rising stars of today. Even with the abovementioned teams continuing to captivate spectators with their action packed rivalries, the emergence of other teams is something to look forward to. In the years to come, one can expect more thrilling rivalries to stun spectators and fans of this beautiful game.





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