If someone told you a few years ago that the India vs Pakistan cricket rivalry isn’t the biggest anymore, you’d think they were crazy. This rivalry has been mostly one-sided. Until the early 2000s, Pakistan dominated India, but in the last 25 years, the tide has turned in India’s favor. Now, it seems the rivalry is at an all-time low, and Australia has taken over as India’s biggest nemesis on the cricket field. India vs Australia rivalry.
Australia Overtakes Pakistan as India’s New Arch-Rivals
India has faced both teams in the T20 World Cup, and Australia clearly dominated the social media buzz compared to Pakistan. According to Sprinklr Insights, the India vs Australia match garnered much more attention on platforms like X, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Reddit, and Quora.
While the India vs Pakistan match had about 25-30 million mentions online, the India vs Australia game saw at least four times more engagement (125-130 million) from fans. In terms of online conversations, India vs Pakistan still led, but the India vs Australia clash held its own.
Fans from India and Pakistan often engage in playful and sometimes toxic banter, but the most negative mentions came during the India vs Australia match, with the India vs Pakistan game not even in the top five. India vs Australia rivalry.
Surprisingly, Pakistan was the fifth most mentioned team online during the T20 World Cup. Australia also didn’t perform well in this aspect, ranking behind Oman, the USA, and Canada. Meanwhile, India remained the most mentioned team, with South Africa being their closest competitor.
Pakistan: Big Names, Not Big Competition
The list of the most popular players in the T20 World Cup is dominated by Indians. Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant, and Arshdeep Singh are the six most famous stars, while Babar Azam is the only Pakistani player to feature.
No Australian player is on the list, but their performance spoke volumes. Although Australia crashed out of the Super 8s, Pakistan failed to make it past the group stage. Pakistan may have one of the most popular players in cricket at the moment, but these statistics show that performance is what truly matters.
