Virat Kohli and R Ashwin have never played international cricket in Pakistan, and could well end their careers without having ever faced Pakistan in a Test match. Chew on that for a moment.
Depending on your own politico-jingoist leanings, you may be for or against India’s refusal to play Pakistan in bilateral cricket series. This stalemate, however, suits the suits at the ICC quite well. So much so that, in recent years, the India versus Pakistan (IndvPak) game has become the headlining act at World Cups. Consider this: at the 2009 T20 World Cup, an unofficial warm-up game between the two teams grossed more viewers than the actual official final of the tournament!
This is a legacy that’s now 30 years strong. On March 4 1992, at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Wasim Akram bustled in and delivered the first ever IndvPak World Cup delivery to Ajay Jadeja. It was a terrible World Cup for India, one where they lost most of their games and missed the semis. Yet, they managed to beat Pakistan comfortably that night, thanks to Man of the Match Sachin Tendulkar’s half century. You may have heard of him.
The most memorable moment in that game was when India’s eternal nemesis Javed Miandad leapt up and down with bat held high over his head, imitating the antics of India’s wicketkeeper Kiran More. It wasn’t the first time Miandad was up to mischief against India, and it wouldn’t be the last. Despite this defeat, Pakistan’s "Cornered Tigers" famously went on to win that World Cup.
Anticipation, they say, is more evocative than retrospection. The 1996 game between the two sides, however, remains as evocative in hindsight, as it did in the lead-up. That Bangalore game remains the highest point in this storied rivalry. That game had everything. Akram, now the captain of Pakistan, pulled out at the last minute, supposedly with an injury. To this day, conspiracy theories abound over Akram’s withdrawal; theories that Akram himself sought to address recently, and not very convincingly. Was someone in Akram’s family actually kidnapped on the match eve?
Back in 1992, Jadeja was an opener and Tendulkar was a middle order batsman. The roles had reversed by 1996. Tendulkar failed this time, but Jadeja’s unconventional assault on an erring Waqar Younis in the death overs eventually proved the difference between the sides. Not many people remember that Jadeja was still on zero when he was caught plumb in front by a Waqar yorker. There’s no way he would have survived that ball in these days of DRS (decision review system). So it goes.
That Jadeja onslaught was merely the appetiser. Saeed Anwar and Aamir Sohail kicked off Pakistan’s chase with a counterattack, that stunned the Chinnaswamy Stadium into deafening silence. Sohail, the stand-in captain, hit Venkatesh Prasad to the boundary and pointed to the fence taunting the bowler that he would send the next ball in the same direction. Prasad responded with a short ball that slipped past an ugly slog and hit the stumps, and then pointed Sohail the way to the dressing room. The stadium erupted in a raucous din, and if cricket grounds had decibel records, this moment would surely stand No. 1. India went on to win again, an oddity in those years since Pakistan were consistently the better side.
India made it three on three at the 1999 World Cup. Rahul Dravid and Mohammad Azharuddin hit 50s to take India to a middling score, and Prasad was once again in business, with a five-wicket haul that strangled Pakistan’s comatose chase. Pakistan went to the final and India were knocked out of the World Cup in the Super Six stage, but the fact that they won this game undeniably earned them some goodwill when they returned home early.
It would be tough to pick a favourite between 1996 and 2003 for the coveted title of best India-Pak game at the ODI World Cup. For a change, Pakistan got to bat first in 2003, and the game evoked nostalgia from every corner. Saeed Anwar scored yet another fine century, and Inzamam-ul-Haq copped yet another comical run-out. But the greatest hits would come later in India’s chase, as Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag took off like rockets. Tendulkar upper-cut Shoaib Akhtar’s first ball for a six over third man — cricket’s version of "the shot that was heard around the world", and followed it up with three incredible boundaries in the same over. Sehwag upper-cut Waqar’s first ball over the same fence, for six more. Abdul Razzaq put down a tough chance off Tendulkar at mid-off, leaving Akram fuming — “Tujhe pata hai tumne kiska catch chhoda hai (Do you know whose catch you dropped)?” India raced past 50 in the fourth over, and the game was done as a contest well before they reached the target. Man of the Match — Tendulkar. What a surprise.
The two teams were slated for a Super Eights clash at Barbados in the 2007 World Cup. Tickets for this game were sold out well in advance, with expats from the US and Canada making plans to be in the West Indies for the clash. Alas! Neither team even qualified for the Super Eights, with Bangladesh and Ireland stunning them on the same day earlier in the first round, and advancing in their place to the Super Eights. Imagine being in the stands that day, watching Ireland versus Bangladesh, instead of India vs Pakistan! The 2007 World Cup was a disaster, to a large extent because of the early exits of these two teams.
India vs Pakistan battles shape cricket, even when the match actually doesn’t happen. Two things happened in the aftermath of the 2007 debacle: First, the organisers wisened up and ensured India v Pak games are always slated in the opening round, to ensure that the progress of the two teams to latter stages doesn’t come in the way of the fixture. Second, the financial losses suffered during the ODI World Cup in 2007 led to the first-ever T20 World Cup later the same year, and India’s success in that tournament paved the way for the Indian Premier League (IPL), and eventually went on to change everything about cricket!
MS Dhoni’s young Indian side met Pakistan twice in that 2007 World T20. The league game ended in a tie, with India winning the bowl-out tie-breaker. Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, and Robin Uthappa held their nerve to hit the stumps, while Pakistan’s bowlers missed each of their first three attempts. The teams would face again in the final, and who can forget how it ended! Joginder Sharma bowling a cruddy, nondescript ball wide of off stump, Misbah-ul-Haq, choosing to lap it behind square instead of smashing it straight as it deserved to be, and the ball settling into the barely steady hands of S Sreesanth at fine leg — that Malayali you would find at every corner of the world. India 6, Pakistan 0.
It’s been 15 years since Johannesburg, and sadly, the magic is now long gone. The 2011 World Cup semi-final in Mohali came close to living up to expectations, until Pakistan botched up their chase of 260 under relentless pressure from Dhoni’s bowlers. Misbah was again left with too much to do in the end, and India prevailed. Tendulkar earned the Man of the Match gong yet again, meaning he had now been Pakistan’s nemesis in World Cup games in three different decades. A staggering achievement, even by Tendulkar’s standards.
Since 2011, it’s all been largely unmemorable and one-sided. India prevailed easily in the 2012 and 2016 World T20s, and in the 2015 ODI World Cup. Kohli starred in each of those games, rightfully taking over the baton from Tendulkar. India won again in a very one-sided 2019 World Cup game, taking it to 11-0.
Pakistan finally pulled one back in the 2021 T20 World Cup, where Shaheen Shah Afridi ripped out Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul in the opening overs. Kohli’s 50 took India to 151, but Pakistan galloped home to a 10-wicket win, Pakistan’s first in World Cup cricket against India, 29 years since that first floodlit game in Sydney.
This Sunday will mark the 13th encounter between the men in green and the men in blue in World Cups. Will Shaheen once again wreck India upfront? Will Kohli or Rohit play another knock for the ages? Will new heroes emerge? Or will the Melbourne rain ruin everyone’s weekend?
It doesn’t matter. For when it comes to India vs Pakistan at World Cups, anticipation is more evocative than retrospection.
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