Is India v Pakistan still cricket’s greatest rivalry?

Roaring crowds, faces painted blue and green, flags waving like battle standards.

This is the opening of The Greatest Rivalry: India v Pakistan, a new Netflix documentary on one of cricket’s most storied contests.

India’s Virender Sehwag sets the tone: “This is a contest bigger than one between the bat and ball”. Cut to dramatic footage of some of the matches, the Wagah border, partition refugees. A nation split into two, but forever bound by cricket.

Pakistan’s Waqar Younis doesn’t hesitate: “I put this rivalry right at the top. There’s no match like India v Pakistan.” India’s R Ashwin agrees: “I think this is bigger than the Ashes.” Ramiz Raja says it’s “the political garnish that makes this rivalry world-class”.

Despite wars, border standoffs and terror attacks, the India-Pakistan cricket rivalry has endured, driven by history and national pride. Even when politics halts the bilateral series, International Cricket Council (ICC) tournaments keep the fire alive, turning every match into a high-stakes spectacle.

But Pakistan’s crushing defeat by India on Sunday at the Champions Trophy has reignited the question: is this rivalry overhyped, propped up by slogans like “war minus the shooting” – a phrase George Orwell coined in 1945 to criticise excessive nationalism in sports?