Cricket: (Ind vs Pak)
The India–Pakistan cricket rivalry is one of the most intense sports rivalries in the world.[1][2] An India-Pakistan cricket match has been estimated to attract up to one billion viewers, according to TV ratings firms and various other reports.[3][4][5] The 2011 World Cup semifinal between the two teamsattracted around 988 million television viewers.[6][7][8] Tickets for the India-Pakistan match in the 2015 World Cup sold out in 12 minutes after they went on sale.
The arch-rival relations between the two nations, resulting from the extensive communal violence and conflict that marked the Partition of British India into India and Pakistan in 1947 and the subsequent Kashmir conflict, laid the foundations for the emergence of an intense sporting rivalry between the two nations who had erstwhile shared a common cricketing heritage. The first Test series between the two teams took place in 1951–52, when Pakistan toured India. India toured Pakistan for the first time in 1954-55. Between 1962 and 1977, no cricket was played between the two countries owing to two major wars in 1965 and 1971. The1999 Kargil War and the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks have also interrupted cricketing ties between the two nations.
The growth of large expatriate populationsfrom India and Pakistan across the world led to neutral states like the United Arab Emiratesand Canada hosting several bilateral and multilateral ODI series involving the two teams. Players in both teams routinely face intense pressure to win, and are threatened by extreme reactions in defeat. Extreme fan reactions to defeats in key matches such as in the ICC Cricket World Cup have been recorded, with a limited degree of violence and public disturbances.At the same time, India-Pakistan cricket matches have also offered opportunities for cricket diplomacy as a means to improve relations between the two countries by allowing heads of state to exchange visits and cricket followers from either country to travel to the other to watch the matches.
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