ICC Champions Trophy: Top 8 memorable India vs Pakistan matches

Ahead of the Champions Trophy clash, we look at India-Pakistan ODI matches in ICC tournaments

The most awaited contest in the ICC Champions Trophy, 2017, will be the one between arch-rivals India and Pakistan — on Sunday, June 4, at Edgbaston, Birmingham. The match is sure to refresh the age-old rivalry followed closely over decades, and it promises to be one of the highlights of the tournament. 
 

While India-Pakistan Cricket matches had been more common in earlier years of this decade, things have changed in the past few years, and India-Pak clashes on cricket field have become few and far in between. Matches in marquee ICC tournaments have an added significance, given the prize that any team wins is much bigger. While India has never lost a match to Pakistan in World Cup tournaments, it has been beated in two of the three times the two teams have met in Champions Trophy tournaments.

India-Pakistan Cricket has been known to stop traffic, give people racing heartbeats and force students to skip studies even during exams. Fans expect Sunday's match to be nothing short of great, despite Indian captain Virat Kohli playing down the importance of this clash and branding it as 'any other match'. Even as we wonder if India will begin its defence of the Champions Trophy title on a successful note, let's take a look at earlier memorable India-Pakistan matches in World Cup and Champions Trophy tournaments.
 

1. 1992 World Cup

This was during the 1992 World Cup at SCG in Sydney that these two nations from the Indian sub-continent played together in a World Cup match for the first time. India won the toss and chose to bat first but set only a small target of 216. It was able to post this total because of valuable contributions from two men — Ajay Jadeja and Sachin Tendulkar, who scored 46 and 54*, respectively. Despite a small target, Pakistan couldn't chase, with Aamir Sohail (62) not getting enough support from his other teammates. Pakistan lost the match by 43 runs, as their last eight wickets fell for just 68 runs.
 

The match is still remembered for the on-field spat between Indian wicketkeeper Kiran More and Pakistan batsman Javed Miandad. More was involved in constant sledging from behind the stumps. When Miandad could not take it anymore, he mocked the Indian by jumping in an animated fashion. The video of Miandad mimicking More's method of appealing is still a YouTube favourite.

2. 1996 World Cup

The year 1996 saw the Indian sub-continent — India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka — hosting the Cricket World Cup for the second time. While the 1987 World Cup, also hosted by the sub-continent, had not seen India playing Pakistan, fans were luckier this time around. India faced Pakistan in the quarterfinal of the tournament, at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore (Bengaluru now). Batting first, India posted a good total of 287, riding mainly on Navjot Singh Sidhu's patient 93 and Ajay Jadeja's quickfire knock of 45 in 25 balls, where Jadeja smashed 4 fours and 2 sixes. While chasing the target, Pakistan managed to score only 248 runs.
 

The match is still remembered for Pakistan captain and opening batsman Aamir Sohail's 'sledging gone wrong'. Sohail had gestured to Indian pacer Venkatesh Prasad after hitting a boundary off the latter's ball. Pointing towards the boundary, Sohail seemed to have said to Prasad, "that's where I am going to smash your deliveries!" While Prasad did not respond and presently walked back to his mark, his very next delivery did. Prasad had the last laugh as his next ball uprooted Sohail's off stump. This video, too, is a YouTube favourite.

3. 2003 World Cup

India registered their third consecutive win against arch-rivals Pakistan in 2003 World Cup at SuperSport Park, Centurion. In this group-stage clash between two sub-continent neighbours, Pakistan posted a formidable total of 273 while batting first, thanks to the dependable opener Saeed Anwar, who was playing his last World Cup. But that was before Sachin Tendulkar got into the act and scored a brilliant 98, falling agonisingly short of a well-deserved century. In this innings, Tendulkar had taken on the famous pace battery of the Pakistani team. Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar were not able to prevent India from securing a place in the Super Six. Tendulkar received good support from 'the Wall', Rahul Dravid, and the dynamic southpaw Yuvraj Singh. Dravid and Singh struck unbeaten 50 and 44, respectively, to guide India to a memorable win with six wickets and 26 balls to spare.
 

The thrilling moment of the match was a spat between Shoaib Akhtar and Virender Sehwag. Akhtar had continuously been trying to intimidate Tendulkar, egging him on to hit a six off his ball. And the master blaster indeed struck one over the third man. Sehwag was seen taunting the Pakistani pacer after the Tendulkar six.

4. 2004 Champions Trophy

The first time that Pakistan beat arch-rival India in an ICC tournament was in a 2004 Champions Trophy tie at Edgbaston, Birmingham when it won by 3 wickets in a low-scoring battle. India, Pakistan and Kenya had been pitted in the same group. Both the Asian sides had won their respective matches against Kenya and faced each other in a do-or-die clash.
 

Batting first, India were reduced to 73 for the loss of 5 wickets. But due to valuable contributions from Rahul Dravid (67) and Ajit Agarkar (47), it was able to post a respectable score of 200.

Chasing this target, Pakistan appeared to be trudging weakly early on, with only 27 on the board and 3 batmen out at one point. Left-arm pacer Irfan Pathan had taken all the wickets early in the innings. However, Yousuf Youhana (now Mohammad Yousuf), with an unbeaten 81, and Inzamam-ul-Haq's 41 turned the match on its head. They put on a 75-run partnership for the fourth wicket to take Pakistan close to the target. And, a late cameo from 'Boom Boom' Shahid Afridi (25 off 12) secured Pakistan's win with four balls to spare.

5. 2009 Champions Trophy

Pakistan continued their dominance over India in the 2009 edition of Champions Trophy at SuperSport Park, Centurion where a century from Shoaib Malik (128) and Mohammad Yousuf (87) scripted a 54-run win over India. The Pakistani duo shared a solid 206-run partnership for the fourth wicket and Pakistan posted a fearsome total of 302.

The Indian innings didn't go well, as Sachin Tendulkar fell early in the chase. But Gautam Gambhir (57) and Rahul Dravid (76) took on Pakistani attack. But Gambhir's run-out changed the flow of the match and India started losing wickets at regular intervals. Suresh Raina (46) kept India in the hunt for a while, but after he was dismissed by Saeed Ajmal, India's hopes of chasing down the target vanished. Finally, India was packed off for 248 in the 45th over of the match.
 

6. 2011 World Cup

The match was important for both the teams as these two cricketing crazy nations were just two games away from becoming World Champions. After winning the toss, Indian skipper M S Dhoni opted to the bat at PCA Stadium, Mohali. India was off to a flying start thanks to Virender Sehwag made a sizzling start, but the Indian middle order stumbled and then master blaster Sachin Tendulkar scored 85 runs.Sachin was dropped four times and survived two very close LBW decisions. Finally, India posted a fighting total of 260 in 50 overs. The Indian bowlers did the rest of the job as Pakistan were bowled out for just 231.

The Indian team went on to win the coveted trophy after 28 years by beating Sri Lanka by 6 wickets in the final at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.

7. 2013 Champions Trophy
 

Team India finally broke their jinx against arch-rival Pakistan in the Champions Trophy as they managed to come out on top for the first time in three attempts. In a rain-curtailed match at Edgbaston, Birmingham. Dhoni's men thrashed Pakistan by 8 wickets with the help of Duckworth and Lewis System.
 

Indian bowlers produced a good performance as Pakistan were dismissed for a paltry 165 in 39.4 overs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja all picked up two wickets each while two tailenders were run out by Virat Kohli and Umesh Yadav.

Team India got off to a solid start with Shikhar Dhawan (48) taking the attack to the Pakistani bowlers. Rain interrupted the match twice but Dhawan's onslaught ensured that India was much ahead of the D/L par score. Virat Kohli (22) and Dinesh Karthik (11) remained not out as the duo achieved their revised target of 102 in the 20th over of the match.

8. 2015 World Cup

On February 15, 2015, India-Pakistan rivalry was revived once again when they faced each other in a World Cup match. Team India kept their 100 per cent win record against Pakistan intact in World Cup matches. India beat Pakistan by 76 runs. 

Playing the group stage match in packed Adelaide Oval stadium, Indian captain M S Dhoni remained lucky with the toss and decided to bat. Riding high on Virat Kohli’s brilliant 107 and Suresh Raina's 74, Team India set a target of 301 in their quota of 50 overs. Indian bowlers backed the batsmen’s efforts and wrapped Pakistan innings at 224 runs to hand them another defeat in ICC tournaments.

Twitter: @akash_raavan