Sarfaraz vs Rizwan - a fan-fuelled rivalry that exposes a culture of mistrust.

Byline: Syed Hammad Hasnain

The most favourite pastime of sports fans is to create rivalries, manufacture beef and then feed off it when all the goals have been scored and runs made.

This is constant across the globe. You won't ever see Cristiano Ronaldo say a word about Lionel Messi but their supporters are known to wage comment wars all over the World Wide Web.

Pick any sport and you'd find legions of diehard fans going to any length to prove that their idol is better and the other is 'Penaldo'. Tennis has Federer-Nadal, basketball has LeBron and MJ, and others have others.

Pakistan cricket also has one such rivalry, which is the doing of everyone but the two men involved. You will not find one Sarfaraz Ahmed quote against Mohammad Rizwan (or vice versa) but their supporters clash online every time one does better or worse than the other.

After Sarfaraz promoted himself up the order in Quetta Gladiators' PSL 6 opener against Karachi Kings and failed (scored 7 runs), parallels were again drawn and comparisons made - even more so when the very next day, Rizwan scored a 71 for Multan Sultans batting at the same position.

The umpteenth round saw Rizwan fans rub their beloved's half-century in the faces of Sarfaraz supporters, who, in response, found fault in how Rizwan had slowed down after his 50.

The back and forth has gone on for quite some time and will go on until God knows when. Neither side can be expected to show grace any time soon.

Wasim and Waqar both had their spots guaranteed and never had the fans divided, even if they both were. It means that Rizwan-Sarfaraz's fan rivalry could perhaps be the most bitter and polarising Pakistan cricket has seen in at least the recent past.

And it's easy to see why this has lasted so long and with such fervour. Sarfaraz and Rizwan, even though they themselves have always maintained that they represent one unit under the Pakistan banner, have actually been made de facto representatives of regions.

Their internal competition has once again brought to the forefront the ethnic and regional divides that have long existed but gone unnoticed or been deliberately ignored.

If you're around cricket discussions these days or frequent forums on the interwebs, you will be aware of the so-called 'Karachi lobby' - a pejorative term for fans and media men rallying the cause of cricketers from the port city.

In the opposite corner supposedly stands the 'system' or the 'status quo' that allegedly favours players...