India and Pakistan will face each other in Champions Trophy 2025 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on February 23. This will be their first meet in the 50-over format since the ODI World Cup 2023. The fact that, both countries have not played bilateral series since 2012 only makes the rivalry even more interesting.
As the heat is catching up ahead of the thrilling encounter, several former cricketers who have been part of the rivalry have expressed their emotions. One such revered cricketer, former India batter, Navjot Singh Sidhu has termed the faceoff as “mother of all battles”. On the other hand, former Pakistan skipper, Shahid Afridi went on to reveal that like all youngsters, it was his dream to play an Indo-Pak game.
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“It is the mother of all battles. There’s nothing bigger than this. I think it’s the tension that holds everybody together. When 150 crore people expect a win from you, they will never swallow a defeat. There is a culture of retribution. This game is played more between the ears than between the hands—it’s a psychological battle. There’s plenty of nervous energy floating around, but the side that converts it into positive energy is the side that will win,” said Navjot Singh Sidhu on JioHotstar’s Greatest Rivalry Returns.
Afridi added: “For a cricketer, an India-Pakistan match is a golden opportunity, especially for youngsters. It was always my dream. Before a match, I couldn’t sleep at night—I would think about my performance and how I couldn’t afford to miss this chance. Even if I hadn’t performed in the last five or six matches, if I did well in an India-Pakistan game, everything would be forgiven. That’s how big this rivalry is.”
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India and Pakistan have met 21 times at ICC events, and India have managed to outclass the arch-rivals 17 times, whereas Pakistan have won just four times. The most memorable one was their T20 World Cup 2007 league game as a bowl-out was conducted to decide the winner of the game and it gave the rivalry a new direction.
