Indian skipper Rohit Sharma and Pakistan skipper Babbar Azam
Nakul Shivani/ New Delhi
India lock horns with Pakistan in their opening Super 12 match of the ICC T20 world cup in Melbourne on Sunday.
The two teams have a history of nail-biting finishes and high drama whenever they have met on the cricket field.
The Sunday match is expected to see a capacity crowd of 100,000.
India are currently top of the ICC rankings and Pakistan is third.
The two arch-rivals have faced each other six times in the history of T20 world cups. India has won five of those contests. Pakistan emerged victorious the last time the two teams met in a world cup match in Dubai in 2021.
Here is a brief look at the history of previous contests between India and Pakistan in T20 world cup:
Durban 2007:
The first ever T20 encounter between India and Pakistan in the inaugural edition of the world cup in 2007 went right down to the wire. Helped by important contributions from Robin Uthappa and MS Dhoni, India set a target of 142.
Despite Misbah-ul-Haq’s half-century the match ended in a tie.
India won the bowl-out, the system used then to break ties in T20.
Johannesburg, 2007:
India and Pakistan took on each other once again, this time in the final of the tournament to decide the first ever champion of T20 world cup.
India posted a challenging target of 158 with useful contributions from Gautam Gambhir who top-scored with 75 and an unbeaten 30 runs by Rohit Sharma.
This match too went into the last over with India needing one wicket and Pakistan 13 runs for a win.
Misbah-ul-Haq miscued a scoop off Joginder Singh to hand an easy catch to Sreesanth and with-it India defeated Pakistan for the second time in as many matches in the world cup to become world champions.
Colombo, 2012:
India bowled Pakistan out for a paltry 128 in the group match of the third edition of the T20 world cup. Virat Kohli’s 61-ball 78 helped India win the match by 8 wickets with 14 balls to spare.
Dhaka, 2014
The two teams met in the group stage match again.
India restricted Pakistan to 130 for seven wickets. Amit Sharma was the star of the Indian bowlers with 2/22 in his 4 overs.
India won the match by seven wickets with 9 deliveries to spare. Viral Kohli top-scored with 36 runs for India.
Kolkata, 2016:
In the rain-curtailed 18-overs-a-side match India overcame the target of 119 with six wickets in hand and 13 balls to spare.
Virat Kohli again starred for India with an unbeaten knock of 55 runs in 37 deliveries.
Dubai, 2021:
Pakistan finally managed to break their winless streak against India in T20 world cups.
Captain Babar Azam led from the front with an unbeaten 68.
He was helped by his opening partner Mohammed Rizwan who scored 79 runs to help Pakistan beat India by 10 wickets.
Pakistan overcame the target of 152 with 13 balls remaining.
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Melbourne, 2022:
Who will be the winner?