India vs Pakistan: Story of 8 ODI World Cup games between the Rivals

India and Pakistan are the arch rivals and whenever they faced each other at any stage the hype went next crazy. But this has not just started although it has been going on for many years. The first test match was played between these two teams in 1952 after 5 years of apportionment. The First World Cup match of India vs Pakistan was played in 1992 and from then the journey of India’s dominance started over Pakistan in the ODI World Cup. Since the first game, both teams have played 7 ODI World Cup games and India has won it all. A Lot of interesting stories these games hold in themselves, so Here in this article I am going to cover how India managed to beat their neighbors in every world game. 

• Jumping Javed – 1992-Sydney 

Javed Miandad, Pakistan’s captain, mocked Indian wicketkeeper Kiran More because he was appealing in almost every ball. That picture witnessed one of the greatest moments in this rivalry. 

This was the first time in history that India and Pakistan faced each other in the World Cup. Indian captain won the toss and decided to set the target in front of neighbors, the game was reduced to 49 overs because of the slow over rate by Pakistan, and with the help of Sachin Tendulkar’s unbeaten 54 and Ajay Jadeja’s 46 India managed to score 217 runs with the loss of 7 wickets in 49 overs. Captain Azharuddin and legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev have also contributed some important runs to the score. In reply, only Amir Sohail(62) and Javed Miadad(40) fought in the middle of the wickets, and after Tendulkar gave India a breakthrough by dismissing Amir Sohail wickets started falling in regular time intervals, and when Javagal Srinath spilled the bails of Miandad Pakistan’s remaining hopes come to a complete halt. Every Indian bowler has got at least one wicket. 

 Pakistan shrinks up to 173 with 5 balls remaining and loses the game by 43 runs. Sachin Tendulkar was awarded Man of the Match due to his half-century.

• Venkatesh-Amir battle – 1996 – Bangalore

The 15th over of Pakistan’s inning was going and Pakistan’s captain Amir Sohail hit a four to Venkatesh Prasad and sledded him with his bat, gestured to bring the ball from the boundary, that sledding triggered Prasad, and the very next bowl he uprooted his stumps and gave an aggressive send-off. 

1996 again India vs Pakistan at Bangalore in the quarterfinals, captain Azaharuddin went for batting again this year and this time explosive opener Navjot Singh Sidhu played a very beautiful knock of 93 runs and India managed to score 287 runs in 50 overs, Ajay Jadeja again played a crucial knock of 45 runs. In the absence of Wasim Akram Pakistan’s bowling line up looks helpless in front of Indian batters, In the second inning Pakistan again got a good start and added 84 runs in just 10 overs but when Srinath got Anwar caught by Kumble and Pakistan lost first wicket again they collapsed in pressure and only managed to score 248 runs in one over the reduced game by Pakistan’s side. 

This was the second consecutive loss of Pakistan from India in the World Cup and Pakistan wasn’t aware of how this was going to be. That clash with Amir Venkatesh made this game more memorable. 

• Venkatesh fifer – 1999 – Manchester

This was the third time in a row that both teams were playing against each other in the World Cup. This match was played in a very disciplined way. Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin won the hat-trick toss and again chose to bat. After an early wicket of opener S Ramesh, Sachin Tendulkar built a partnership with R Dravid and brought the score near 100 before Azhar Mahmood departed him five runs before his half-century. R Dravid and Azharuddin made half-centuries and India scored 226 runs with the loss of 6 wickets after fifty overs. 

While defending a low target Indian bowlers never allowed Pakistan to sit in the driving seat during the entire innings. Indian seamer Venkatesh Prasad took 5 wickets in the game and made it a one-sided battle. Pakistan collapsed at 180 in 45.3 overs and lost the game by 47 runs. Injmam-Ul-Haq(41) was the only batter to score forty runs from Pakistan’s side and for the fifer, Venkatesh Prasad was considered the player of the match.

• Sachin’s Magic – 2003 – Centurion

Along with the toss, almost everything has changed in this World Cup from the team to the players everything was new but one thing that was still the same was Sachin Tendulkar’s Scoring runs. 

A young sensational Indian team with the young captain Saurav Ganguly has taken the responsibility to carry forward the streak of 3-0 against Pakistan in the World Cup. Ganguly lost the toss and asked to field first and this is the first time India is going to chase the target against Pakistan in the World Cup. While batting first Pakistan made a challenging total of 273 with the help of Saeed Anwar’s century, Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra took two wickets each. In reply, India chased down the target in 45.4 overs with an aggressive inning of 98 in 75 balls by master blaster Sachin Tendulkar. Sohaib Akhtar departed him 2 before his century but before leaving the field Sachin has pushed Pakistan on the backfoot. After Sachin’s dismissal, Yuvraj Singh(50) and Rahul Dravid(44) took charge and ensured India’s victory.  

Also Read: History of Cricket: Cricketers Who Bridged India and Pakistan

• India vs Pakistan – 2011 – Mohali

After the gap of one World Cup India vs Pakistan was again in Mohali. India under the captaincy of MS Dhoni was performing great and Sachin Tendulkar is still showing his skills in the field. India after beating mighty Australia in the quarterfinals and Pakistan beating West Indies are into the semis facing each other. 

Dhoni elected to bat first after winning the toss and India managed to score 260 runs with the help of Sachin’s 85 runs at the top. Pakistan had dropped so many catches of Sachin Tendulkar until Shahid Afridi decided not to drop in Ajmal’s over 15 runs before his century.  In reply, every five Indian bowlers gave damage to Pakistan’s batting order by taking 2 wickets each and summed up Pakistan’s innings at 231 in 49.5 overs. Pakistan again wasn’t able to break the streak and lost the game by 29 runs. India entered into the finals and later on finished the World Cup by winning it.

• Kohli’s Karisma – 2015 – Adelaide

 Before this game no Indian batter had ever scored a century against Pakistan in the history of the World Cup and Virat Kohli became the first batter after 23 years to do so. 

Indian captain MS Dhoni again won the toss and elected to bat first, with the help of Virat Kohli’s 107 India managed to score 300 in the first inning. This was the first time when 300 runs were scored between India vs Pakistan at World Cups. Shikhar Dhawan and Suresh Raina have also made half-centuries to contribute to the total. Sohail Khan was the only stand-out bowler from Pakistan and he became the first Pakistan’s bowler to take five wickets in this rivalry. In reply, Pakistan could never gain a foothold in this game and they kept losing their wickets in regular time intervals. Indian bowlers led by Mohammad Shami(4-35) stopped Pakistan at 224 in 47 overs and recorded 76 runs win.

Also Read: Importance of Virat Kohli in the India vs Pakistan match

• Hitman show – 2019 – Manchester

Rohit Sharma was at a peak in this World Cup, he scored a record five centuries in this World Cup and Pakistan also became his victim. He scored the highest individual score in this rivalry. India after being asked to bat first scored massive 336 runs with the help of Rohit Sharma’s 140 and Virat Kohli’s 77, Mohammad Amir took the highest 3 wickets from Pakistan’s bowling lineup. 

In reply Pakistan got the target of 302 runs in 40 overs due to the interruption of rain and Pakistan again collapsed in pressure and only managed to score 212 with the loss of six wickets Fakhar Zamaan was the only batter to score a half-century from Pakistan. India again dominated this rivalry by beating Pakistan and the streak continues with 7-0. 

• Breaking the ego – 2023 – Ahmedabad

Before the game, Pakistan was very proud of its bowling lineup with having Shaheen Shah Afridi, Harish Rauf, and Hasan Ali and brake their ego in the game when Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer chased the target of 191 in just 30.3 overs. 

After winning the toss Rohit Sharma decided to field first and stopped Pakistan at a low score of 191 in 42.5 overs. Pakistan’s captain Babar Azam was the only batter to score a century and Mohammad Rizwan to score 49 runs. In reply Indian batters chased down the target in 30.3 overs, and captain Rohit Sharma(86) and Shreyas Iyer(53) helped India to win by 7 wickets. It has been 31 years and eight World Cups since India has beaten Pakistan continuously and in every World Cup Pakistan comes up with a hope to break the streak but due to pressure of the big match, they always choked and failed to break the chain.