India, Feb. 13 -- More than half a century of history, shaped as much by geopolitics as by cricket, has defined the India-Pakistan rivalry. Wars, nuclear tests, diplomatic freezes, the political subtext has rarely stayed in the background. Often, it has driven the spectacle. Cricket has occasionally served as a peacemaker between the two nations. But more often, politics has supplied the oxygen that keeps this rivalry burning. On the field, however, the competitive balance has quietly tilted, and in recent years, dramatically so.

That does not mean the rivalry never had cricketing fire. Sachin Tendulkar's emergence in Karachi in 1989. Javed Miandad's theatrics with Kiran More in 1992. Venkatesh Prasad vs Aamer Sohail in 1996. Chennai's s...