Delay any impending or urgent plans. Leave whatever it is that you’re doing. Delay what can be. Open the TV box. Pull open the curtains. Switch on the lights. And let cricket further enlighten our often monotonous existences. Why? The most interesting, perhaps also important, contest in the whole wide T20 World Cup is about to begin not long from now. You read that correctly. The big key moment is here. And Live action is about to begin on Sunday with everyone counting the hours fast passing. And tons and tons of fans, in fact, barrage of fans are about to witness the very moment they’ve so desperately waited insofar. India versus Pakistan and that too, in the mother of all T20 battles is here. Not in India. Not in Pakistan either but in Sri Lanka, a neutral, if also, somewhat familiar subcontinental venue.
There’s massive expectation that everyone has of this contest. Understandably so! India versus Pakistan contest brings along massive fan expectation, prospects of seeing records tumble and a chance to see new rivalries break new grounds. Back then, it was Kohli and Rohit versus Afridi and Amir. Now, in the current conception, there’s Babar Azam and Shaheen Shah Afridi on the one hand with the likes of Ishan Kishan, Jasprit Bumrah and others at the other end.
It’s going to be spin versus technical correctness and inventive strokeplay. It’s going to be fast paced bowling and sledge hammer style boundary hitting on the other.
The advertisements have done their bit to hype up an already hyped event. The social media posts have generated rancour and volume.
It’s time for real action to take centre stage.
Up first some context.
Not once has Pakistan shown utter dominance over India in a T20 international World Cup contest barring the memorable 2021 Dubai outing in which their openers snubbed aside a very capable and handy Indian bowling attack.
Back in the UAE based T20 World Cup event of 2021, Pakistan smashed India by ten wickets.
Also Read | The importance of Zimbabwe’s win over Australia in the T20 World Cup
Make no mistake, though.
In every contest prior to that date – whether the 2014 T20 World Cup game or the 2016 World Cup game, or those after the 2021 event (that led to the battering of India), team India has made light work of a Pakistan team that often looks akin to a paper tiger. Nothing else.
Here’s a detailed look of all the match results that have happened so far between the two sides.
2014 Mirpur – India won by 7 wickets
2016 Kolkata- India won by 6 wickets
2021 Dubai – Pakistan won by 10 wickets
2022 Melbourne – India won by 4 wickets
There’s also this tremendous history between the two sides basis some memorable and feisty individual performances that have ensured that contests in the shortest format of the game have been not only nail-biting but also enthralling in equal measure:
India and Pakistan have faced each other 16 times in Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is). India have won on 11 occasions with Pakistan winning on just 5.
Can something change for India’s rivals in the next few hours given their less than impressive outing in the ICC T20Is?
Out of these encounters, eight matches have been played in ICC T20 World Cups, including their iconic clash in the final of the 2007 edition.
The two sides have also met six times in the Asia Cup, most notably in the final of the 2025 tournament.
In addition, they played a short bilateral T20I series consisting of two matches in India in 2012.
India holds the record for the highest team total in T20Is between the two nations, scoring 192/5 in Ahmedabad in 2012.
Pakistan’s highest total against India is 182/5, achieved during the 2022 Asia Cup.
The lowest total* in these contests came in the 2016 Asia Cup in Dhaka, where Pakistan were bowled out for 83.
The highest individual score in an India–Pakistan T20I is Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 82, played in October 2022 at the ICC T20 World Cup. The iconic right hander Kohli is also the leading run-scorer in these encounters overall, amassing 492 runs in 11 innings.
Also Read | Nepal Cricket enjoyed a dinner night after great match vs England in T20 World Cup
On the bowling front, the best figures recorded in matches between the two sides are Mohammad Asif’s 4/18 during their group-stage meeting at the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa.
India’s best bowling performance against Pakistan is Kuldeep Yadav’s 4/30 in the final of the 2025 Asia Cup.
