India vs Pakistan in Asia Cup: A history of the intense rivalry

India vs Pakistan. (Photo Source: Twitter) Now, that the Test series against England is lost, Indian fans look forward to Asia Cup starting in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) next week. Although India will not see regular captain Virat Kohli in their ranks for he has been rested keeping in view his workload, it will not dilute any excitement in the tournament for the Men in Blue will take on arch-rivals Pakistan at least twice in the tournament. India and Pakistan have not met each other for over a year now and the last tournament in which they locked horns was in Champions Trophy in England last year. There, while India thumped Pakistan in the group stage, the latter had a one-sided win the final to lift the trophy. The two sides haven’t played each other in any bilateral series for a long, long time owing to political reasons and that make their respective fans look forward to multilateral occasions like Asia Cup. In the Asia Cup, India have been a more dominating force, winning the tournament six times as against Pakistan’s two. However, when it comes to their head-to-head encounters in Asia Cup, there is not much for the statisticians to distinguish. In 11 games they have played against each other until now, both have won five each with one remaining inconclusive. Here we take a look at all India versus Pakistan matches in Asia Cup in brief: 1984: Four runouts derail Pak chase; India win by 54 runs Led by Sunil Gavaskar, India tasted their first victory over the arch-rivals in the Rothmans Asia Cup in Sharjah in the opening edition in 1984. The match was a 46-over affair and India won the toss and elected to bat. Riding a half-century from opening wicket-keeper-batsman Surinder Khanna, India posted 188 for 4 in their allotted overs. Sandeep Patil chipped in with a 50-ball 43 while skipper Gavaskar remained not out on 36 off 55 balls at No.5. For Pakistan, Shahid Mahboob was the pick of the bowlers with 1 wicket for 23 runs in 10 overs. Pakistan faced a batting debacle and lost their last six wickets for just nine runs to get all out for 134 in 39.4 overs. For India, Roger Binny and Ravi Shastri each took a three-for while as many as four Pakistani batsmen were run out. Skipper Zaheer Abbas was their highest scorer with 27. Khanna was adjudged the man of the match. 1988: Arshad Ayub spins Pak out; India win by 4 wickets This game played in Dhaka, Bangladesh, remains memorable still as Hyderabad spinner Arshad Ayub’s game. After Indian captain Dilip Vengsarkar won the toss and put Abdul Qadir’s Pakistan into bat, Ayub took the first wicket after the Pakistanis had a good start. But from 91 for 1, Qadir’s side slumped to 142 all out in 42.2 overs, thanks to Ayub’s 5 for 21 – his only fifer in ODIs. Kapil Dev and Maninder Singh took two wickets apiece. Opener Moin-ul-Atiq was their top scorer with 38. India’s chase wasn’t smooth as they were 76 for 3 at one stage but a solid 74 not out by 38-year-old Mahinder Amarnath saw India through in the 41st over with 4 wickets in hand. Qadir took 3 wickets while Wasim Akram took 2 but Pakistan had too less runs on board to make a match of it. 1995: Aaqib Javed destroys India; Pakistan win by 97 runs Pakistan scripted their first-ever win over India in Asia Cup under the captaincy of Moin Khan when they thrashed Mohammad Azharuddin’s side by 97 runs in Sharjah. Khan won the toss and elected to bat and powered by Inzamam-ul-Haq’s 88 and Wasim Akram’s 50 and a solid opening partnership by Aamer Sohail and Saeed Anwar, Pakistan scored 266 for 9 in 50 overs. India were never in the race as their top order was demolished by Aaqib Javed who finished with 5 for 19 to revive the memories of his 7 for 37 against the same opponents at the same venue in 1991. Navjot Singh Sidhu and Sanjay Manjrekar hit fifties each but it was far too much and too late for the lower order to do. India folded up for 169 in 42.4 overs. Sohail also chipped in with two wickets for 3 runs. Javed was chosen the man of the match. 1997: Match abandoned after Venkatesh Prasad left Pakistan reeling at 30 for 5 Indian captain Sachin Tendulkar won the toss in the game at Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo, Sri Lanka, and chose to field first. Led by Rameez Raja, Pakistan had a disastrous outing with five of their batsmen returning to the pavilion with just 30 runs on the board in 9 overs. Venkatesh Prasad made full use of the wet conditions taking 4 for 17 in five overs with the other wicket going to Abey Kuruvilla. But as luck had it in store, rain intervened after the fifth over when the match was reduced to 33 overs but still no progress could be made because of bad lights and the match had to be abandoned. The game could not be held the next day either and both the teams had to share a point each. Such a frustrating day it was for the Indian fans. 2000: Mohammad Yousuf’s ton helps Pakistan win by 44 runs It was again under Moin Khan’s captaincy that Pakistan bagged their second victory over India in Asia Cup. He won the toss and elected to bat and powered by Mohammad Yousuf’s 100 not out, the Men in Green posted a big score of 295 for 7 in 50 overs. Two of India’s new pacers – Thiru Kumaran and debutante Amit Bhandari – were put to the sword by the Pakistani batsmen. While chasing, India fumbled in the very beginning, losing captain Sourav Ganguly early and were reduced to 4 for 75 in 14 overs. It was because of Ajay Jadeja’s 93 that India managed to cross 250 and were all out for 251 in 47.4 overs. All-rounder Abdul Razzaq finished with 4 wickets for 29 runs while spinner Arshad Khan took two for 59. Yousuf, the first centurion in India-Pakistan encounters in Asia Cup, was picked as the man of the match. This was the last ODI match for Mohammad Azharuddin and Jadeja. 2004: India play ‘Test’ to get bonus point while Pakistan win by 59 runs This edition of Asia Cup had a bizarre rule and that was about winning a bonus point, even by teams that lost the match, provided they finished with a gap of less than 60 runs. India made full use of this rule in their game against Pakistan at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Riding Shoaib Malik’s magnificent 143, Pakistan scored 300 for 9 in their 50 overs after captain Inzamam-ul-Haq won the toss and elected to bat first. Tendulkar was the best of the Indian bowlers, taking 3 wickets for 28 runs. India had a good chase till Ganguly got bowled and after losing their 5th wicket at 151, India shifted their gears and played for the target of 241 to secure the bonus point. They played a survival game in the ODI to score 241 for 8 and got that one point which later proved to be crucial to take them into the final. Malik took 2 wickets and was declared the man of the match. The then Pakistan coach Bob Woolmar was critical of the bonus-point rule. 2008: Rivals share laurels 1-1 Match 1: India win by 6 wickets after Sehwag, Raina, Yuvraj Blitzkrieg In the group game, Pakistan skipper Shoaib Malik won the toss and elected to bat and the batsman himself scored his second successive ton against the arch-rivals in Karachi. Pakistan put up 299 for 4 riding Malik’s 125 (he retired hurt) and Younis Khan’s 59. Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s side did not have much of a bowling success in this game. But India’s batters had a great day in office with Virender Sehwag leading from the front to hit 119, the first century by an Indian against Pakistan in Asia Cup. India finished off the game inside 43 overs with 6 wickets in hand and a special credit for that early finish went to Suresh Raina (69-ball 84) and Yuvraj Singh (47-ball 48). For Pakistan, Iftiqar Anjum took 2 for 61 to be the most successful bowler. Raina was adjudged the man of the match. Match 2: Pak chase down 300-plus losing just 2 wickets The two teams met again in the Super Four stage in Karachi and this time, the hosts prevailed over their opponents. Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat and India posted 308 for 7 in 50 overs with the skipper himself top scoring with 76. Rohit Sharma also came up with a fifty but it was a late-innings flourish from Irfan Pathan (38 off 25) that saw India crossing 300. Anjum with 3 wickets for 51 was the pick of the bowlers again. Indian bowlers had a lacklustre say in the field as they failed to take more than two wickets as Pakistan won the game with more than four overs to spare. Younis Khan slammed an unbeaten 123 while Misbah-ul-Haq, standing in his first match as the captain, scored 70 not out. Nasir Jamshed also hit a fifty but was retired hurt. Out of six bowlers that India used, only leg-spinner Piyush Chawla managed to get a wicket. 2010: Gautam Gambhir’s 83 sees his side through India win by 3 wickets In the one-off clash between the two sides in Dambulla, Sri Lanka, MS Dhoni’s India won by 3 wickets. Winning and toss and electing to bat first, Shahid Afridi’s Pakistan were all out for 267 in 49.3 overs. Opener Salman Butt top scored with 74 while Praveen Kumar was the most successful bowler with 3 wickets for 53 runs. Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh two wickets each. India made a decent start though the match went right down to the wire and they won in the penultimate ball with three wickets to spare. Gautam Gambhir top scored with 83 while Dhoni made 56 and Suresh Raina made a key contribution with 34. Spinner Saeed Ajmal was the most successful Pakistani bowler, taking 3 wickets for 56 runs. Gambhir was adjudged man of the match. 2012: Virat Kohli slams 183 in Tendulkar’s final ODI and India win by 6 wickets Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq won the toss in this group match in Mirpur, Bangladesh, and elected to bat. A pair of centuries from the opening partners — Mohammad Hafeez (105) and Nasir Jamshed (112) – saw Pakistan off to a flying start and they ended up with 329 for 6 wickets in 50 overs. India used as many as eight bowlers and Ashok Dinda was the best among them with the figures of 2 for 47. India lost Gautam Gambhir for no score but then Tendulkar (52) and Kohli took India on the road to victory. After Tendulkar departed, Rohit Sharma came up with 68 and when Kohli finally fell, India were within a striking distance of a win. Suresh Raina and skipper MS Dhoni completed the formalities with 13 balls to spare. For Pakistan, Umar Gul took 2 wickets for 65 runs to be the most successful bowler. Kohli was chosen the man of the match and his 183 remains the highest score in Asia Cup till now. 2014: Shahid Afridi’s last-over strikes see Pakistan win a thriller by 1 wicket Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq won the toss and elected to field first. Indian captain Virat Kohli failed to fire in this game but three fifties from Rohit Sharma, Ambati Rayudu and Ravindra Jadeja saw India putting up 245 for 8 wickets in 50 overs. Saeed Ajmal took 3 for 40 while Mohammad Talha took 2 for 22. Mohammad Hafeez also took two wickets. Pakistan were off to a good start, scoring 71 for the first wicket but a little collapse saw them at 4 for 113. Hafeez (75) and Shoaib Maqsood (38) then added 87 runs for the fifth wicket but there was again a collapse, leaving Pakistan at 236 for 9 with 10 needed in five balls. But it was veteran Shahid Afridi who slammed two sixes against Ravichandran Ashwin to win the thriller for his side, bringing alive the memory of Javed Miandad in Sharjah in 1986. Hafeez was chosen as the man of the match for his all-round effort. 2016: Pakistan skittled out for 83 in 1st T20 Asia Cup; India win by 5 wickets In the first-ever T20 Asia Cup played since inception, Indian skipper MS Dhoni won the toss and put Pakistan into bat. Hardik Pandya’s 3 for 8 and Ravindra Jadeja’s 2 for 11 never allowed the Pakistanis a respite and Shahid Afridi’s side were bundled out for only 83 in 17.3 overs. Wicket-keeper Sarfraz Ahmed was the highest scorer for them with a 24-ball 25. India also had a disastrous start as both their openers – Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane – were dismissed for nought and Suresh Raina fell as the third wicket on 8. Pakistani left-arm pacer Mohammad Amir ran riot but although Pakistan’s opening bowlers picked 5 wickets in a short period (the other being Mohammad Sami), they could not maintain the pressure and India eventually drove home in 15.3 overs with 5 wickets in hand. Virat Kohli scored 49 under pressure to win the man of the match award. For all the latest cricket news and other updates follow CricTracker.

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India vs Pakistan in Asia Cup: A history of the intense rivalry

In 11 games they have played against each other until now, both have won five each with one remaining inconclusive.

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