It's hard to believe Hockey was more popular than cricket before 1983. And by the way, Pakistan was Hockey World Cup Champions in both 1978 and 1978. India didn't even finish in the top four on either occasion.
Your argument is weak because you haven't included any evidence to support your argument. As far as I recall, cricket has been extremely popular in India. Gavaskar, Pataudi, Chandrashekhar, Amarnath, Bedi has been superstars long before 1983.
I became `wordless for a couple of seconds' seeing your comparison between India and Pak Hockey histroy.
Dude Right from 1928 Amsterdam Olympics to 1960 Rome India was the sole winner in Olympics Hockey games.Straight six Olympic Gold Medals,winning 24 consecutive matches !!!!The Indian stranglehold over the Olympic hockey gold came to an end, when Pakistan defeated India in the final of the 1960 Rome Olympics. However, the record created by India is likely to stand strong through ages, as no other country has ever managed to come close to it, leave about beating it.This feast continued in 1964 and 1980!!!