What if... India and Pakistan were never partitioned?

Rohit Sharma amidst Pakistan

One of the biggest controversial occurrences of Indian history was the partition that came with independence in 1947. Well it affected every aspect of the nation. But let us not get into the political aspect of things. 

Watching Naseem Shah in the Asia Cup match against India, I got a feeling: how would India have fared if Shaheen Shah Afridi was a part of the Pakistani line up in the match. 

On further thinking I got chills on the thought, what if India and Pakistan were not partitioned. How would it have affected the cricketing history?

So, what if India and Pakistan were playing the game as one nation?

The best batter and the best pace bowler in the history of ODI cricket are from India

Wasim Akram and Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar is the highest run scorer in ODI cricket with 18,426 runs under his belt. While Wasim Akram from Pakistan is the highest wicket taker in ODIs as a pace bowler with 502 wickets to his name. Both these records now belong to Indian players. 

India won the 1999 and the 2003 ODI World Cup

The strong batting and bowling line up of India overpowered the ‘Mighty Aussies’ in both the 1999 and 2003 World Cup. 

India has 5 ODI World Cups and 3 T20I World Cups under their belt

India have won 5 ODI World Cups in the years: 1983,1992, 1999, 2003 and 2011.

The team has won the first two editions of the T20 World Cup in 2007 and 2009. In the 5th edition of the T20I World Cup the Sri Lankan team’s efforts were not adequate to defeat the Indians in the finals. That was the third title of the team in the World Cups of the shortest format of the game. 

The Current Indian Team

The current Indian team is a powerhouse ruling over world cricket at present. They have a magnificent balance of batters and bowlers who could dig the team out of any situation. Let us look at the Strongest XI of the team with respect to the ongoing Asia Cup. 

Conclusion

The history of cricket would have been completely different if this happened. India would have had the strongest side not only throughout the games' history but also the current team would have been a powerhouse and a difficult team to contain with.