Top 5 India vs Pakistan Matches In International Cricket

The highly anticipated ICC men's T20 World Cup is all set to kickstart on June 2nd, 2024. While the matches are going to be played between 20 teams in four groups, most of us are looking forward to witnessing the epic clash between India and Pakistan again on June 9, 2024, at the New York Cricket Stadium.

The groups and format of this much-awaited tournament are divided with the 5 teams splitting into group of 4; 

Group A: India, Pakistan, Ireland, Canada and USA

Group B: Australia, Namibia, Scotland, Oman and England

Group C: West Indies, Afghanistan, Uganda, PNG and New Zealand

Group D: South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Netherlands and Nepal

In this tournament, a total of 55 matches will be played. Out of 55, a total of three venues in the USA and six in the Caribbean will be used for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024. India will play against their arch-rival Pakistan on June 9th, 2024 at New York Cricket Stadium. Let's read about the top 5 epic clashes between India and Pakistan in International cricket as they are nothing short of legendary!

1992: The First Iconic World Cup Clash 

India and Pakistan played their first ODI World Cup match at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Australia on 4th March 1992.Due to the slow over rate by Pakistan, the total overs were reduced by 1; India scored 216 runs in 49 overs with Sachin Tendulkar being named the Player of the Match with 54 runs off 62 deliveries, while Pakistan got all out at 48.1 overs- not before scoring 173 runs.

Despite this historic win against Pakistan, India didn't perform particularly well overall in other matches and unfortunately, did not qualify for the semi-finals, unlike Pakistan. 

After defeating New Zealand on 21st March, 1992, Pakistan qualified for the finals, along with England. Pakistan won their first World Cup title by defeating England by 22 runs on 25th March, 1992. Post this win, Pakistan's Imran Khan retired from the ODI tournament.

2003: India vs Pakistan, 2003 ICC World Cup

The 2003 World Cup edition featured 14 teams and the tournament was hosted by Africa for the first time. The teams were divided into groups of 2 and both India and Pakistan were placed in Group A.

On 1st Match, 2003, India and Pakistan faced each other at Centurion Park, Centurion where Pakistan presented India with a target of 274 runs. India comfortably surpassed the score in 45.4 overs, winning by 6 wickets! India's master blaster, Sachin Tendulkar, racked up 98 runs in 75 balls and was therefore named the Player of the Match.

Pakistan unfortunately got eliminated at the Group Stage itself, while India progressed all the way to the finals, along with the Aussies. The 2003 Cricket World Cup was held at Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg. In the finals, India lost the match to Australia who won by 125 runs.

India vs Pakistan: ICC Men’s 2007 T20 World Cup

It was the second clash of India for the ICC men's 2007 T20 World Cup against Arch-rival Pakistan at Kingsmead Durban ground. Pakistan's team had won the toss and elected to bowl first in the clash against Arch- rival where India batted first and scored 141 runs in 20 overs with a fall of Nine wickets.

The Indian batting lineup collapsed against the Pakistan fiery pace bowling attack with the falling of 4 wickets on just 38 runs the Indian side was in trouble but the partnership between Captain Ms Dhoni and walking Assanation Robin Uthappa saved the Indian team from collapsing under 100 runs.

The walking Assanation Robin Uthappa made 50 runs within 39 balls that included 4 fours and 2 monster sixes. On the other hand, MS. Dhoni played a crucial knock of 33 runs to bring India to a total of 141 runs. The second innings started with a quick succession of Pakistan's first wicket of Imran Nazir on 12 runs in the over of RP Singh who got bowled while playing an attacking shot. Salman Butt and Kamran Akmal made a small partnership of 30 runs for the second wicket but were unable to handle the pressure of the required run rate and got caught behind the stumps in the over of Ajit Agarkar by MS Dhoni.

The duo bowling attack of Irfan Pathan and  Harbhajan Singh made Pakistan's middle order after the fall of the second wicket from 44-2 to 47-4 in 8.5 overs. Pakistan team's players Shoaib Malik and Misbah-ul- Haq were out of the crease in the middle of the innings and handled the Pak innings when they were down for 47-4 counter-attacking the Indian bowling lineup with big sixes all over the ground.

The stats got changed from 33 required in 18 balls Pakistan players started playing attacking shots when the required rate got above 10 runs per over. Misbah-Ul-Haq and Shahid Afridi started going through each Indian bowler after seeing the required run rate going up they started playing fearless cricket to win the match.

Now Pakistan required 12 runs in 6 balls to win the match with 4 wickets in hand the first ball went for a single Captain Misbah-Ul-Haq was back to the crease and hit the second ball of Sreeshant for a lofted over curve for a four. On the last ball, the Pakistan team required one run off one ball to win the match but captain Misbah-Ul-Haq got run out on the last ball of the match.

The cricket world witnessed one of the most iconic moments in the history of the T20Is as the MS Dhoni-led India defeated Pakistan via a bowl-out in the group stage encounter of the inaugural edition of the ICC T20 World Cup in South Africa.

Asia Cup 2012 

The Asia Cup 2012, also known as the Micromax Asia Cup, was held in Bangladesh.This particular series is still remembered by fans as this was the first time Bangladesh qualified for the finals. That's not all, India’s Virat Kohli's incredible performance against Pakistan is one for the books- a month after his incredible innings at Hobart, in a match against Sri Lanka.

During a match against Pakistan for the Asia Cup, Kohli came to India’s rescue after Gautam Gambhir got out in the first over. Kohli scored 183 runs in 148 balls, reminding us why he is indeed one of the best batsmen of our generation. 

Ultimately, India won the match with a six-wicket win with both Rohit Sharma and Sachin Tendulkar scoring half-centuries. Sadly, this was also Sachin’s last game where he represented Team India in the ODI format. Overall, India came in third place while Pakistan won their second Asia Cup!

2011: The Heated Semi-Final At Mohali

The 2011 edition was hosted by the trio; India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, and featured a series of 49 total matches which was played among 14 participating countries. During the Group Stage, Pakistan was placed in Group A while India found itself to be a part of Group B. Both teams cleared the Group Stage and played an iconic semi-final match for a place in the finals on 30th March 2011. This iconic semi-final between India vs Pakistan match garnered a lot of attention due to the integrity of the match between the arch-rivals and is one of the most talked about cricket matches.

MS Dhoni-led India won the toss and elected to bat first. Men in Blue racked up 260 runs while losing 9 important wickets. Pakistan, on the other hand, started the match strong but got all out at 49.5 overs- resulting in India winning the match by 29 runs at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali.

India moved on to the finals with Sri Lanka, creating history as this was the first time that two Asian teams were facing each other for the finals. At the end, India claimed their 2nd (and last till now) World Cup title as they won by 6 wickets.