India-Pak rivalry surviving on legacy

India have dominated the contest recently, winning 12 of the last 15 ties between them

- Sandip Sikdar

"India vs Pakistan pehla hockey Test. Islahuddin aur Samiullah dono aa rahe hai. Bataiye result kya hoga (First Test between India and Pakistan. Both Islahuddin and Samiullah are coming. Guess the result)," Amol Palekar's character Ram Prasad Sharma says as he excitedly discusses hockey with his uncle in the renowned 1979 comedy Gol Maal.

That was an era when hockey was the pre-eminent sport in South Asia and the two countries were masters of the game, winning whatever there was to. "We used to sing songs during our matches. That just showed how confident the two teams were," the same Islahuddin Siddiqui, a two-time world champion with Pakistan, told this correspondent in an earlier interview.

While the global dominance decreased in the 1990s and 2000s, falling behind the European teams and Australia, the two outfits were still evenly matched, giving a tough fight to each other.

There were stars in the team that people would turn up to watch in packed houses. Pakistan had Sohail Abbas, Rehan Butt, Shakeel Abbasi while India had charismatic wizards like Dhanraj Pillay, Dilip Tirkey and Jugraj Singh. Even the India-Pakistan game at the 2010 World Cup in New Delhi saw 16,000 fans turning up at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, the only contest of the tournament that saw a full house.