It’s cricket’s fiercest rivalry, watched by lots of of hundreds, sparking raucous celebrations in victory and wild accusations in defeat, nevertheless every time India and Pakistan have clashed on the ICC Cricket World Cup, there was only one winner.
India have defeated Pakistan seven events out of seven on the occasion since they first met in Sydney in 1992, a run that Babar Azam’s side will hope to complete as soon as they meet the hosts in Ahmedabad on Saturday.
Is it luck? Have India benefitted from profitable 5 of the seven tosses? Are Pakistan additional inclined to pressure?
“We carried out seven video video games and our neighbouring nation reminds us every second day regarding the 7-0,” Pakistan legend Wasim Akram said.
“Frankly speaking, I can’t single out one objective for the dropping streak.”
From Sydney to Manchester
Inzamam-ul-Haq, who ended up on the dropping side for Pakistan on 4 occasions, believes pressure has been a component.
“Presumably India handled the pressure increased than us on the day of the match and profitable lots of the tosses moreover gave them a bonus,” he said.
Even when Pakistan gained the toss twice, their luck didn’t change.
They’ve been outdone by Sachin Tendulkar’s brilliance inside the chase at Centurion in South Africa in 2003 and by Rohit Sharma at Manchester in 2019 when India have been despatched in to bat.
The defeat on the 2019 occasion worth Sarfaraz Ahmed the captaincy.
As a consequence of a quirk of the having fun with format, Pakistan and India in no way met inside the first 4 World Cups.
Every have been favourites to fulfill inside the final as soon as they’ve been co-hosts in 1987, nevertheless each fell inside the semis.
The first encounter occurred in 1992 at Sydney, a low-scoring affair that was remembered additional for Pakistan’s Javed Miandad leaping up and down in a bizarre attempt to mimic India wicketkeeper Kiran Further.
Pakistan didn’t chase a modest 217-run entire, dropping by 43 runs.
Nonetheless, that defeat was shortly forgotten when Imran Khan’s employees staged a distinctive restoration to win their first and solely 50-over World Cup title.
‘It was hellish’
4 years later, Pakistan misplaced as soon as extra by 39 runs in India’s yard in Bangalore.
The defeat resulted in a furious response once more dwelling – skipper Wasim Akram was even alleged to have feigned hurt.
“It was hellish,” remembers Akram. “No one digested that defeat and we wanted to return dwelling beneath tight security and couldn’t exit of our homes for days.”
On the 1999 World Cup, Akram and his employees have been subjected to a match-fixing inquiry after they misplaced by 47 runs to India and slumped to a shock loss to Bangladesh.
They nonetheless managed to finish as runners-up.
No matter boasting an intimidating three-pronged tempo assault of Akram, Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar, Pakistan misplaced their 2003 World Cup encounter by six wickets.
A high-profile semifinal moreover went to India by 29 runs in Mohali in 2011, a match the place respective prime ministers Manmohan Singh of India and Yousuf Raza Gillani of Pakistan watched from the stands.
“To be reliable, I don’t know the reason why we on a regular basis misplaced,” Shahid Afridi, the skipper in 2011, said.
“We carried out so correctly to reach the semifinals and fell transient in Mohali. I moreover heard some silly points however it was a matter of respect and as captain I instructed my avid gamers to current their most interesting.”
A packed dwelling in Adelaide observed Virat Kohli’s century subdue Pakistan by 76 runs inside the 2015 World Cup.
Pakistan as quickly as as soon as extra fell transient in 2019, as soon as extra in Manchester, as they misplaced by 83 runs in a rain-hit sport.
So can it’s eighth time lucky for Pakistan as soon as they renew their rivalry in Ahmedabad on Saturday at this World Cup?
“That jinx will be broken in some unspecified time in the future and this current Pakistan employees is ready to doing that,” said Akram.
“We broke the Twenty20 World Cup jinx after 5 defeats in 2021 in Dubai, so the 50-over jinx might go.”
