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One of cricket’s biggest rivalries India v Pakistan will have its next instalment in a final as the two neighbouring countries compete to win the Asia Cup this Sunday.
Political as well as sporting history makes the India–Pakistan cricket rivalry one of the fiercest in the entirety of cricket and whenever these two meet, fireworks seems to happen.
Ahead of this Sunday’s final, here are five all-time classic T20 meetings between the pair.
2025 Asia Cup – India chase historic total
The final will not be the first meeting of these two nations in this year’s tournament as they have already played each other twice, once in the group stage and once in the Super Four.
While India strolled to a comfortable seven-wicket win in the group stage, the Super Four meeting was a much more dramatic affair as Sahibzada Farhan powered Pakistan to a 171 score and seemingly put the game out of sight.
But an opening partnership of 105 runs in 59 balls between Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill set India on their way to a record-breaking score of 174 which is their highest successful run chase in Asia Cup history.
Pakistan will be aiming to avoid a repeat when they meet on Sunday.
2022 T20 World Cup – Kohli masters the pressure
Virat Kohli may have retired after India’s World Cup win in 2024 but he had plenty of influence on this fixture over the years and one of his best moments came in 2022 when Pakistan and India met at the MCG for their World Cup opener.
In a high-pressure affair, Pakistan batted first and posted a total of 159/8 with Shan Masood and Fakhar Ahmed scoring half-centuries, giving India a big task to get their campaign off to a winning start.
Their attempt to do that got off to an awful start with KL Rahul falling after 1.5 overs for four and his opening partner Rohit Sharma departed for the same score but commeth the hour, commeth the man as Kohli produced one of his career-best innings.
The all-time great scored 82* off 53, including six fours and four sixes to power India to victory. He did so with plenty falling around him too as only two other players made it to the double digits.
2014 Asia Cup – Afridi’s back-to-back sixes
India and Pakistan have excellent history when it comes to the Asia Cup and arguably no match has ever been better than the 2014 encounter. As Kohli did in 2022, victory came down to one man handling his nerves and this time it was Shahid Afridi.
The Pakistani already had a reputation as a great finisher but he solidified that when his team needed 11 runs from the final over to win their group stage encounter.
Afridi started off strike but the first ball saw Saeed Ajmal bowled by Ravi Ashwin and the replacement Junaid Khan was able to score a single on his first ball and get Afridi in the firing line.
Afridi, needing 10 from four balls, teed off and hit back-to-back sixes, giving Pakistan a famous win with two balls to spare.
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2007 T20 World Cup – First T20 World Cup encoutner goes to bowl-off
The first meeting between India and Pakistan in a T20 World Cup was certainly a memorable one and came back in 2007.
The inaugural edition of the tournament drew the two in the same group alongside Scotland and after India’s match with the Scots was washed out, they needed a result against their biggest rivals to ensure progress to the Super 8s.
Pakistan bowled first and restricted India to 141/9 but Pakistan posted the exact same score in their innings, setting up a rarely seen bowl-out to decide who would be victorious.
But India captain MS Dhoni threw a curveball and picked non-specialists for his team’s attempts. It was a decision that paid off as all three of India’s bowlers hit the stumps while all three of Pakistan’s failed.
It was a dramatic ending to the countries’ first T20 World Cup meeting but would not be the only time they met that year…
2007 ICC T20 World Cup – India win tight final affair
Following the bowl-out drama, both India and Pakistan topped their Super 8 group, making it look inevitable they would meet in the final.
A victory for India over Australia and Pakistan over New Zealand in the semis set up the match in what proved to be a nail-biting affair.
India batted first with Gautam Gambhir opening with a score of 75. Rohit Sharma’s knock of 30* saw the team post a score of 157/5 but Pakistan came so close to matching it.
Despite losing Mohammad Hafeez after five balls, Imran Nazir and Younis Khan combined to bring Pakistan up to 53/3 and with a chance of reaching the target score.
But a series of quick wickets swung momentum back in India’s favour and it came down to Pakistan’s tailenders with the country’s hopes resting on their shoulders. Ultimately, they fell short and were all out for 152, giving India their first T20 World Cup win.
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