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India and Pakistan have met each other countless times in the cricket field with the always present political tension between the two countries adding to some heated as well as some memorable moments whenever the two sides have locked horns. The arch-rivals will clash with each other once again on Sunday, their first since the Pahalgam terror attacks which almost had put the two rivals on the brink of war earlier this year.
Even as we build towards Sunday’s encounter, the hype around this match seems a bit muted, considering the circumstances in the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack as well as the absence of genuine stars in both sides with India’s Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma retiring from the shortest format while Pakistan’s Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan dropped.
But whenever these two teams have been drawn against each other, it has more often than not resulted in thrilling match ups, especially in the Asia Cup. Here’s a look back at some of the very best of their Asia Cup matches.
India’s huge win in 2023
Let’s start with the most recent encounter between the two sides in the Asia Cup 2023 Super 4 clash where India thoroughly thrashed Pakistan by a massive 228-runs. India posted 356/2 in 50 overs with Virat Kohli and KL Rahul both scoring centuries while captain Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill chipping in with half centuries.
Chasing, Fakhar Zaman was the to scorer for Pakistan with 27 runs as stars like Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan both failed. Spinner Kuldeep Yadav was the pick of the bowlers as he bulldozed through the Pakistan batting lineups, ending with figures of 5/25 in 8 overs.
Singh is King in 2010
Harbhajan Singh will remember that Asia Cup match in Sri Lanka forever when the spinner became an unlikely hero with the bat rather than the ball against Pakistan in 2010. Batting first, Pakistan had posted an imposing total of 267 runs, courtesy of Salman Butt’s 74 and Kamran Akmal’s 51. Praveen Kumar was India’s best bowler who took 3 wickets for 53 runs.
Chasing the target, India were reeling at 219-6 even after Gautam Gambhir scored 83 and captain MS Dhoni chipped in with 56. But after the fall of some quick wickets where Gambhir, Kohli, Rohit, Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja all returned to the hut, in stepped Harbhajan. With India still needing 49 off 29 balls, Suresh Raina and Harbhajan took the deficit to 8 in the last over. It started pretty worryingly for the Men in Blue when Raina was run out while Harbhajan faced Mohammad Amir for the last ball with 4 to get. And he absolutely smoked it out of the park for a six as India recorded a famous win.
Harbhajan, who had an altercation with Shoaib Akhtar in the last over, looked at his defeated adversary and let out a guttural roar.
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Kohli’s coming out party in 2012
In 2012, it was the start of the era of Kohli shattering Pakistani dreams. The Indian legend who was already on his way to becoming one of the best batters in the game smashed a match-winning 183 runs against the Men in Green in the 2012 Asia Cup in Bangladesh. In what would turn out to be the final ODI match for Sachin Tendulkar, Kohli with his mammoth innings proved that he was more than ready to carry the mantle forward.
Pakistan had posted an imposing 329/6, courtesy of centuries from openers Mohammad Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed while Younis Khan scored an important half century. Chasing the total, India lost Gambhir for a duck early before Kohli joined Tendulkar in the middle. And sparks started to fly. Tendulkar ended up with 52 but Kohli kept up the momentum along with Rohit, which showed India a glimpse into its future. Rohit’s 68 as well as Kohli’s 183 ultimately helped India chase down the target as the Chase master was well and truly born.
Afridi’s late storm
2 years later, Rohit would continue his hot steak against Pakistan when he scored a steady 56 runs while Ambati Rayudu chipped in with 58 but the match will always be remembered for one man- Shahid Afridi.
After India had posted 245/8, Ahmed Shehzad and Mohammad Hafeez started strongly before the habit of Pakistan to collapse dramatically came to the foe when they lost 4 wickets for 42 runs. Two more wickets followed after a rebuild by Hafeez and Sohaib Maqsood leaving Pakistan reeling at 203/6 after 45 overs. Afridi would come out all guns blazing with Pakistan needing 10 off the final over.
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Ravichandran Ashwin was chosen to defend and he helped India get off to a great start when he snapped up Saeed Ajmal with the first ball. But the smiles were wiped off the Indian faces when Afridi got strike in the 3rd ball of the over and smacked two monstrous sixes off the third and fourth balls to hand Pakistan a thrilling win.
Hardik stays calm under pressure in 2022
Hardik Pandya’s Asia Cup 2022 heroics against Pakistan in the Group Stage match is one of the underrated gems in the history of the clashes between the two rivals. Batting first, Pakistan had posted 147 after Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Hardik took 4 and 3 wickets apiece to restrict the Men in Green to a rather gettable total.
But India were in deep trouble while chasing when they lost 4 wickets for just 89 runs with Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav already in the hut. With the match in the danger of slipping away, Hardik joined Jadeja in the middle and helped reduce the deficit with India needing 21 off the last 2 overs.
In the 19th over bowled by Naseem Shah, Pandya slammed a hattrick of boundaries with just 7 to get off the last 6 balls. Pandya remained calm under pressure in the last over as he smoked Mohammad Nawaz for a 6 to help India defeat Pakistan with 2 ball to spare.
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