India vs Pakistan is a cricketing rivalry unlike any other in the game. Their battles in the prestigious ICC T20 World Cup have never failed to delight. Dating back to the very first time these teams clashed in 2007 till their most recent encounter - another last-ball classic at the MCG - this rivalry has been full of nail-biting finishes. 

The two teams have had drastically different starts to the T20 World Cup 2024. India breezed past Ireland at a canter, while Pakistan suffered a shocking upset, falling to hosts USA in a thrilling Super Over.

With both teams set for a clash on Sunday, June 9th, 2024, let's take a look at all of the previous India-Pakistan T20 World Cup encounters.

1. India vs Pakistan at Durban, Sep 14, 2007

Both nations were sporting exciting teams at the inaugural edition of the ICC T20 World Cup 2007, with a young Men In Blue team being led by the yet untested captain MS Dhoni. After failing to go past the first round of the ICC ODI World Cup 2007, both India and Pakistan had a point to prove. 

Clashing on a lively Durban wicket, Robin Uthappa (50 off 39) and Misbah-ul-Haq (53 off 35) were the stars for their respective teams with the bat. The ever-consistent Mohammad Asif (4/18) shone for Pakistan, while Irfan Pathan (2/20) was India's trump card with the ball.

Pakistan needed 12 to win off the final over, which was brought down to 1 off 2 balls. Sreesanth, bowling the crucial final over, held his nerve and bowled two successive dot balls at the end - the latter of which resulted in a run out - to tie the game.

This led to the first and only bowl-out in the T20 World Cup. India’s candidates for the bowlout came as a surprise, with Virender Sehwag and Robin Uthappa taking the ball first and third respectively, with Harbhajan Singh sandwiched in the middle. All three bowlers hit the stumps. For Pakistan, Yasir Arafat and Umar Gul missed their first two tries. At 3-0, it finally came down to Shahid Afridi to keep Pakistan in the hunt. When even he missed, the Indian team started celebrating a unique scoreline in a T20 match: India won 3-0! Both teams made their way into the next round. But they weren’t done yet…

2. India vs Pakistan at Johannesburg, Final, Sep 24 2007

The first-ever T20 World Cup final brought with it the rush and buzz of any big match day event - but multiplied manifold given the finalists. The two teams that only months prior had failed to go past the first round of the ICC ODI World Cup were meeting in the T20 World Cup final. 

Pakistan was determined not to lose a second time to India. Having gone unbeaten in the Super Eight Group F table, they won the semi-final clash against New Zealand by 6 wickets. India were also in high spirits, finding themselves atop their Super Eight Group E table. They also claimed a 15-run win against an Australian team that was still at the height of their dominance.

The toss went in favour of India and skipper MS Dhoni chose to bat first. The decision was a good one for India as they managed to put up 157 runs in the course of 20 overs, with Gautam Gambhir posting a crucial 75 runs off 54 balls. These were the days when 200+ totals weren’t as common as they are today.

The Pakistan team dwindled to 65/4 by the ninth over when Misbah walked out to bat. By the end of the 16th over, they seemed down and out at 104/7. With 54 runs to win off 4 overs and only 3 wickets in hand, it seemed a matter of when, not if, India would win. 

But as he had in their previous encounter, Misbah-ul-Haq was not ready to throw in the towel. He blasted Harbhajan for 3 crucial sixes in the 17th over, and Sohail Tanvir joined in on the action with 2 sixes off Sreesanth's next over. With 20 needed off the final two overs, RP Singh bowled an incredible penultimate over, conceding just 7 runs, of which two were leg byes.

With 15 needed off the final over, the unheralded Joginder Sharma was given the ball. A wide was followed by a dot ball, but then came what seemed like the decisive blow: a full toss that was hammered down the ground for six. 

The next ball was almost inexplicable; Misbah tried to scoop a full ball over fine leg but ended up scooping it to Sreesanth at fine leg instead, who safely took the catch. India won an unbelievable final by just 5 runs to become the first-ever T20 World Cup champions.

 

3. Pakistan vs India at Colombo, Sep 30, 2012 

It took a five-year gap for India and Pakistan to meet again in a T20 World Cup. Pakistan had also won a T20 World Cup trophy in 2009, putting them back on level terms with India. Team India, on the other hand, was coming off two back-to-back Round 2 exits in the previous two editions of the T20 World Cup.

On the day, India proved their critics wrong when they bowled out the Men In Green for just 128 runs, with Lakshmipathy Balaji, Yuvraj Singh, and Ravichandran Ashwin claiming 7 wickets between them. 

Virat Kohli lived up to his burgeoning reputation, scoring an unbeaten 78 runs off 61 balls to easily take India to an 8-wicket win. This would be the start of a ritual of sorts for Kohli; being unbeaten in T20 World Cup chases against Pakistan.

4. Pakistan vs India at Dhaka, Mar 21 2014

The next T20 World Cup encounter between the two teams did not take long, as they met in the 2014 Group stage in Mirpur.

The toss went in favour of India and they elected to field. India put in another dominant performance, their spinners stifling the Pakistan batting and limiting them to just 130/7.

A solid unbeaten 66-run partnership between Virat Kohli (36* off 32 balls) and Suresh Raina (35* off 28 balls) saw India stroll to an easy 7-wicket win.

5. India vs Pakistan at Kolkata, Mar 19, 2016

The two sides met each other again soon enough in the 2016 edition. Winning the toss in a rain-shortened 18-over encounter at Eden Gardens, India elected to field first. As was the case in each of the previous two encounters, India’s bowlers proved too hot for Pakistan to handle, and they managed a mere 118/5 in their 18 overs.

On a pitch where every single batter on either side struggled, it was once again Virat Kohli who stood apart from the rest. His terrific 55* off 37 balls ensured India got home with plenty of balls to spare. 

India was once again dominant throughout the tournament but was halted by the West Indies by 7 wickets in the semi-final.

6. India vs Pakistan at Dubai, Oct 24, 2021

After 14 years of coming up short against India, Pakistan finally had its moment of glory, and what a moment it was!

After a five-year gap between T20 World Cups and with two new captains Rohit Sharma and Babar Azam, Pakistan was a team to reckon with in the tournament. Pakistan’s fortune at the toss meant that they elected to field first. 

A red-hot Shaheen Shah Afridi proved to be almost unplayable with the new ball, sending back Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul within his first two overs. Suryakumar Yadav hit a four and a six but was soon dismissed by Hasan Ali. It was once again up to Pakistan's old foe Virat Kohli to steady India's ship. He made a crucial 57 off 49 balls while Rishabh Pant contributed a vital 39 off 30 balls, but there was simply no letting up by Pakistan's talented bowling attack. India got to 151/7 - a score that we were hopeful of being defended.

Unfortunately for the men in blue, that wasn’t to be once Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam started batting. The duo recorded an unbroken partnership of 152 runs off 107 balls, thus guiding Pakistan to a commanding 10-wicket win - their first win over India in the T20 World Cup (and any senior men’s World Cup game).

7. Pakistan vs India at Melbourne, Oct 23, 2022 

This brings us to the most recent - and arguably the most exciting - contest between the two sides.

Babar Azam and his side would have been looking forward to another flawless victory when they came on to bat first in Melbourne after India chose to field.

This time around, the duo of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan could muster only 4 runs between them. Half-centuries by Nos 3 and 4, Shaan Masood (52* off 42) and Ifthikar Ahmed (51 of 34) took Pakistan to a total of 159/8.

India had a similarly lackluster start, with Rahul and Rohit once again being dismissed early. Suryakumar fell shortly after, while the experiment to send Axar Patel up the order did not come to fruition either. At 31/4 in the seventh over, 160 looked to be a long way away for India.

Virat Kohli, though, had other plans. With a resolute Hardik Pandya for company, India's man-for-all-seasons started doing what he does best. He ran hard, took every opportunity to run hard for extra runs, and found the occasional boundary to keep India in the hunt. 

At the end of 18 overs, India needed 31 runs off 12 balls. Haris Rauf, bowling the penultimate over, conceded just 3 runs off the first four balls before Kohli played the shot of the tournament (perhaps century) - an almost physics-defying back foot loft off a length ball straight back over Rauf's head for six. The next ball was flicked off his pads but timed with such precision that it flew over the ropes at fine leg for another six. 

But the drama was not yet over. Left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz got the better of Hardik off the first ball of the 20th over. Kohli managed to hit another six off a no-ball. Despite being bowled off the resultant free hit, Kohli and Dinesh Karthik ran like hares to get 3 runs out of nowhere. Nawaz then dismissed Karthik before Ashwin, cool as ice, left a ball down the leg side for wide and chipped the final ball over mid-off to hand India their most dramatic T20 World Cup victory since that fateful day at Johannesburg 15 years ago.

What can we expect from India and Pakistan’s 8th T20 World Cup encounter?

Given the way this T20 World Cup has unfolded, India's bowlers will play a pivotal role in navigating the challenges posed by tricky pitches. However, the onus will also be on India’s batters to take calculative risks and see off the good balls. The team has selected the perfect mix of players to handle this challenge, with Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, and Rishabh Pant having proved their mettle many times over. With aggressive batters like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shivam Dube, and Sanju Samson in the wings, we can expect great things from this Indian squad.

India's bowling attack, featuring the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Ravindra Jadeja, will be crucial in exploiting the conditions and keeping the opposition in check. On the batting front, calculative risks will be essential, with seasoned players needing to see off the good balls and capitalize on scoring opportunities. The balance between a strong bowling lineup and a resilient batting order gives Team India an edge in terms of history and form, and they will aim to leverage this advantage to the fullest on Sunday.

In any case, we can bet on another thrilling encounter between these two great rivals!