Hyderabad: India and Pakistan matches go beyond numbers and statistics as emotions take over, making the encounter a high-voltage, nerve-wracking contest. The amalgamation of excitement, build-up, drama, adrenaline and quench to win the match at any cost is almost ethereal.
Come 24th October - Sunday, and we are about to witness the same and that too at the biggest possible stage of cricket -- the ICC T20 World Cup.
The Virat Kohli-led Indian side have been grouped with Babar Azam's Pakistan in the Super 12 stage in the World Cup.
And if numbers are anything to go by, the Indian team have fared well against their Pakistani counterparts thus far and the probability of win tilt on their side due to a better record since the inception of the shortest format's World Cup in 2007.
India's record against Pakistan in World Cups:
12-0. It's still is a clean slate for Pakistan as India have won all the matches. Experts are of the view that the Indian side are able to handle pressure a lot better in World Cup matches and that has led to the 'Men In Blue' boasting such figures.
In the 50-over format, India lead 7-0 against their arch-rivals, while they have won 5 matches so far with Pakistan yet to register a win against India in the T20 format of the game.
But what conspired during these matches? Here's a compiled list of T20 matches between the two teams so far.
1. India beat Pakistan in a bowl out - 2007 ICC T20 World Cup
The inaugural T20 World Cup was played in South Africa and this group stage match between arch-rivals India and Pakistan was played at Kingsmead, Durban.
The match between both the sides ended as a tie, and as a result, the game went into a bowl out, and India defeated Pakistan 3-0. For India, Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag, and Robin Uthappa were able to hit the stumps while Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul, Yasir Arafat all missed hitting the stumps.
In the normal match, MS Dhoni-led India batted first and was able to post a total of 141/9 in the allotted twenty overs. Robin Uthappa and MS Dhoni starred with the bat after playing knocks of 50 and 33 respectively. For Pakistan, Mohammad Asif scalped four wickets.
Pakistan's chase never got off to a good start and the side found itself at 87/5. Misbah-ul-Haq played a knock of 53 runs, but in the final over, he was run-out and as a result, the match ended in a tie.
For India, Irfan Pathan scalped two wickets. This was the first time that MS Dhoni was leading India and he eventually took the side to the T20 World Cup win in 2007.
2. India win by 5 runs in 2007 ICC T20 World Cup Finals
The summit clash was played at the Wanderers in Johannesburg. In the match against Pakistan, India won the toss and opted to bat first.
Virender Sehwag was ruled out of the match due to an injury and as a result, Yusuf Pathan and Gautam Gambhir came out to open the batting. Yusuf Pathan (15) hit one four and one six to let India get off to a flier, but he was sent back to the pavilion by Mohammad Asif in the third over. Robin Uthappa (8) was also sent back cheaply, and as a result, India was reduced to 40/2.
Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh then retrieved the innings for India as the duo put on 63 runs for the fourth wicket. The Men in Blue, however, kept on losing wickets at regular intervals after the departure of Yuvraj (14) in the 14th over. However, Gambhir managed to hold the fort for the Dhoni-led side and he went on to play a knock of 75 from just 54 balls with the help of eight fours and two sixes.
In the end, Rohit Sharma played a cameo of 30 runs off just 16 balls to take India's total to 157/5. Defending 157, India came out all guns blazing as Pakistan was reduced to 77/6 with all their big guns like Shahid Afridi, Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik sent back to the pavilion.
But, Misbah-ul-Haq did not give up hope and he started hammering Indian bowlers all around the park and brought the equation really close for Pakistan.
In the final over, Pakistan needed 13 to win and Dhoni opted for Joginder Sharma to bowl the six deliveries. Misbah hammered the second delivery of the over for a six, and India's hope of winning the match looked glim. However, on the third delivery of the over, Misbah went for a scoop shot only to hand a simple catch to Sreesanth.
As a result, India won the finals by five runs and took home the coveted T20 trophy.
After this, Dhoni went on to lift two more ICC trophies -- 50-over World Cup 2011 and Champions Trophy 2013.
Yuvraj Singh was the standout performer for India in the 2007 T20 World Cup as he hit six 6s in an over bowled by England's Stuart Broad. He also played a memorable knock of 70 runs against Australia in the semi-finals.
3. India beat Pakistan in Super 8 match - 2012 T20 World Cup
The match was held in Sri Lanka in 2012. In what was a lopsided contest, India, riding on Laxmipathy Balaji's three wickets halted Pakistan to 128 runs after which Virat Kohli made for an easy road for his team with an unbeaten 78 off 61 deliveries.
Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuvraj Singh set it up with a superb display of spin bowling initially.
Ashwin (2/16) and Yuvraj (2/16) snapped up four wickets between themselves as Pakistan were shot out for a meagre 128 in 19.4 overs. Lakshmipathy Balaji also complemented the 'spin twins' with impressive figures of 3/22 in 3.4 overs.
Kohli, who has been Pakistan's nemesis in the past, hit a scintillating unbeaten 78 off 61 balls as India won with three overs to spare. The Delhi lad hit nine boundaries and two sixes to take the team home in the high-voltage contest watched by a capacity crowd.
4. India thrash Pakistan by 7 wickets in Super 10 match - 2014 T20 World Cup
Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina scored 36 off 32 balls and 35 off 28 balls respectively to defeat Pakistan in Mirpur.
India were in a spot of bother at 65 for three when Yuvraj was bowled by Bilawal Bhatti. Raina joined Kohli into the act and chased the target of 131 with 9 balls to spare. Earlier, Indian spinners performed admirably to restrict Pakistan to a modest 130 for seven in the opening group league game of the ICC World Twenty20.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s decision to field three specialist spinners — Amit Mishra, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin — and bowl first on a slowish track was vindicated as the trio gave away only 63 runs between them in the 12 overs and also removed three Pakistan batsmen, thereby putting brakes on their scoring rate. Mishra (2/22), Jadeja (1/18) and Ashwin (0/23) all got a bit of help from the track which had a bit of bite and turn on offer.
For Pakistan, only Umar Akmal looked good during his 30-ball, 33-run knock but couldn’t go on to get a big score.
5. India register victory against Pakistan by 6 wickets in Super 10s - 2016 T20 WC
Virat Kohli struck an unbeaten 55 as India enjoyed a six-wicket win over rival Pakistan. Kohli struck seven fours and one six off 37 balls in the Group 2 match to see the team reach 119-4 in 15.5 overs in reply to Pakistan's 118-5 in a rain-reduced 18 overs.
The high-profile game, which was moved from the hill city of Dharamsala owing to Pakistan's security concerns, lived up to its top billing in the league stage at the packed Eden Gardens.
An early collapse, in which India lost three wickets, was taken care of by Kohli as the in-form batsman added 61 off 44 with Yuvraj Singh (24) for the fourth wicket. He then saw the team through with Mahendra Singh Dhoni (13 not out) as India bounced back in style after losing its opening game to New Zealand by 47 runs.
"My heart rate did shoot up after losing those quick wickets," Kohli said. "One has to bat according to the demands of the situation at times. It was a challenging wicket but that's what you want as a cricketer - new challenges," Kohli had said after the match.
