“Where Is The Friendship?”: Sourav Ganguly, Shoaib Akhtar Share Unseen Side Of Indo-Pak Rivalry

A new chapter is set to be added in the long-standing cricket rivalrly between India and Pakistan as the two teams play against each other in a Champions Trophy game on February 23 in Dubai. Arch-rivals India and Pakistan don’t play bilaterals ever since the 2012-13 series due to the increased political tensions between them. This makes a match between the two sides rare and much-more special. Only ICC events and Asia Cup are the tournaments where the two teams are seen against each other and the craze among the fans for the games is just incomparable.

Ahead of India’s upcoming match against Pakistan, Netflix is set to release a cricket documentary series “The Greatest Rivalry – India vs Pakistan”. It will premiere on February 7. Week ahead of the release, the over-the-top (OTT) platform shared a glimpse of what is in the box.

In the shared trailer, former India captain Sourav Ganguly recalled the 1996 Friendship Cup, a series of five matches between the arch-rivals in Canada.

“It was a Friendship tour only in name, but when Shoaib Akhtar is going to bowl at 150 kilometres an hour, where is the friendship in that?” Ganguly could be heared saying in the video.

Reacting to the particular part of the video, ex-Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar wrote on X, “Dada @SGanguly99 you’re awesome. Indian cricket is incomplete without you.”

Dada @SGanguly99 you’re awesome. Indian cricket is incomplete without you. pic.twitter.com/tRtb58EGp2

— Shoaib Akhtar (@shoaib100mph) January 29, 2025

The series aims to explore “the drama, passion and high-stakes intensity of this rivalry on the home soil of both nations.” It is directed by Chandradev Bhagat and Stewart Sugg, informed Netflix in a press release.

“The Greatest Rivalry” will narrate many untold stories of the first India-Pakistan ODI match as well as feature interviews of former cricketers from the neighbouring countries — Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly, Sunil Gavaskar, Waqar Younis, Javed Miandad, Ravichandran Ashwin, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Shoaib Akhtar recalling their experiences and unveiling secrets, it said.