ISLAMABAD: The high-profile encounter of the Men’s T20 World Cup would take place on Sunday (today), when arch-rivals Pakistan and India will come face-to-face at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Both teams were long-time arch rivals and their competition was measured as one of the most intense cricket rivalries known throughout the world.
Pakistan-India cricket match has been estimated to attract billions of viewers around the globe. In ICC World Cup matches, India has a record of 13-1 over Pakistan. India had won all 7 matches of 50-over ICC World Cup matches while four T20 World Cup games. Pakistan had bagged 1 out of the 6 T20 World Cup games while 1 ended in a draw.
Among the matches played, some memorable moments were shared by Indians while some were cherished by Pakistanis.
Some of Pakistan’s unforgettable moments include, Javed Miandad hitting a six in the 1986 Australasia cup final in Sharjah when Chetan Sharma bowled the last bowl of the match and Pakistan needed four runs to win.
In the Asian Test Championship in 1999 (India), Saeed Anwar struck a match-winning 188* to help Pakistan win the match.
In the Wills trophy final played at Sharjah, Aaqib Javed claimed a hat trick against India with his best bowling figures of 7/37 off 10 overs.
Pakistan won a memorable 2006 series in India. After losing the first two ODIs, Pakistan went on to win the next 4 ODIs clinically claiming the series 4-2. It was a famous win for Pakistan as they were hinted as the weakest Pakistani team to tour India. Pakistan beat India in the 2009 edition of the Champions Trophy by 54 runs.
Pakistan downed India by 180 runs, which was the largest margin of victory in the final of an ICC ODI tournament in the final of the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy at The Oval in London.
Pakistan also crushed India by 10 wickets in the 2021 T20 World Cup opener and made its first-ever victory over the “Men in Blue” in a World Cup match. Last month, Pakistan also downed India in the Asia Cup encounter by five wickets.
Pakistan squad includes Babar Azam, Shadab Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Shan Masood and Haris Rauf.
Whereas, the Indian team comprises Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Dinesh Karthik, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Suryakumar Yadav, Ravichandran Ashwin, Harshal Patel, Deepak Hooda, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Shami.
However, Pakistan survived a major injury scare on Friday when opener Shan Masood was hit on the head by all-rounder Mohammad Nawaz. Masood was rushed to the hospital for scans. It was later revealed that the batter only received superficial bruising and would be re-tested for concussion.
