For decades, few rivalries in world sport have matched the intensity and spectacle of an India vs Pakistan cricket clash, but according to former India coach and celebrated commentator Ravi Shastri, the tide has turned in recent years, with Australia taking the Green Shirts’ place.
While answering a question on the Stick to Cricket podcast, from former England captain Michael Vaughan, Ravi Shastri boldly claimed that while India-Pakistan remains the biggest in terms of global attention, it’s India vs Australia that has emerged as cricket’s most competitive rivalry in recent years.
“I would say, in the years I have played, it was India-Pakistan. The interest it generates from the outside is massive,” Shastri said. The former Indian international even rated the arch-rivals’ duels bigger than the Ashes.
Even today, despite being limited to sanctioned ACC and ICC competitions, their matches provide unrivalled commercial opportunities, with broadcasters insisting on a Pakistan-India match at each tournament. But Ravi Shastri, who both played in and coached India against Pakistan, believes the intensity of India-Australia contests — especially over the last decade — has redefined the pecking order.
“In the last 10 years, India-Australia has taken over. In cricketing terms, India, Australia, and England have had some fantastic series,” he added.
One such example is the record-breaking crowd at the 2024 Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, part of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. That series drew a staggering 373,691 fans — breaking a record that had stood since 1936, when crowds thronged to watch Sir Don Bradman’s Australia.
While Ravi Shastri’s comments are likely to spark fresh debate across the cricketing world—especially in the subcontinent, where fans continue to view an India-Pakistan contest as the sport’s emotional heartbeat—his claims hold true, as Pakistan and India haven’t played much cricket over the past decade. Regional politics have not spared the game either, which has deprived billions across the globe of a quality and intensity that cannot be matched anywhere.
While the Border-Gavaskar Trophy between Australia and India remains a cricketing spectacle, a bilateral series between Pakistan and India, if ever in the future, is practically guaranteed to break all viewership records.
No matter the stats or shifting dynamics, for Pakistani fans, the India clash will always carry weight that goes beyond the scoreboard, something Ravi Shastri and other cricket enthusiasts are well aware of.
