On This Day: Another Chapter in India and Pakistan's long cricket rivalry
The cricket pitch is where two teams play cricket. But cricket pitch transforms into a battlefield when India and Pakistan go against each other. It becomes a high tension situation when these two countries play against each other. Every ball, wicket, and run has a different meaning. Fans from both countries digitally abuse each other. The Internet gets flooded with thousands of memes that are disgusting and inurbane. But everything is fair in love, war, and cricket. Also, cricket between these two countries is always a war.
The cricketing rivalry between these two nations started in 1952. Pakistan visited India to play 5 test matches. Abdul Kardar and Lala Amarnath were the captains of their respective sides. Kardar had already played test matches for India. After partition, he moved to Pakistan and was playing against them. India won the first test match by an innings and 70 runs at Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium. Vinoo Mankad took 13 Pakistani wickets. The second test match of the series was hosted by Lucknow. Pakistan won this match by an innings and 43 runs. Indian crowd went berserk afterward. This reaction was the starting point of the drama that unfolds every time these two teams go against each other. However, India won the next match. Due to the intense pressure, players from both nations mainly used defensive techniques. Due to this, the last two tests had no results. Cricketing ties between both the countries suffered post this series due to wars, terrorism, and political pressure. Due to the death of India's then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, the series of 1984 was canceled.
In tests and ODIs, Pakistan has dominated India. Out of 59 test matches, Pakistan has won 12 while India has won 9 times. Both the teams have played 132 ODIs. India has won 55 while Pakistan has won 73 matches out of them. Out of the 8 T20Is, India has won 6 of them. India also has dominated Pakistan in ICC events. Pakistan has never won a match in ODI and T20 World Cup against India. While in Champions trophy, Pakistan has won 3 out of 5 contests. The most recent one came in 2017 final.
Also see – IPL 2020 squad
India and Pakistan played against each other for the first time in the 1992 World Cup. On this Day in the 1996 World Cup, both the teams played for the second time in an ICC event.
India won the toss and elected to bat first. Navjot Singh Sidhu played a brilliant knock of 93 runs. Ajay Jadeja scored 45 runs off just 25 balls. He scored 22 runs off one over from Waqar Younis. India scored 57 runs in the last 4 overs. India put a total of 287 runs on the board.
Pakistan's opener gave them a great start. Saeed Anwar was dismissed for 48 runs. But Aamer Sohail held onto one end. After hitting a boundary off Venketesh Prasad, Sohail made an offensive gesture towards him. Prasad didn't respond and went back to his run-up. On the very next ball, Sohail was clean bowled by Prasad. This was surely the turning point of the match. Pakistan didn't recover from this and went on to lose yet another match to India by 39 runs. Pakistan was eliminated from the tournament due to this loss.
Back home, the Pakistani fans went mad. They attacked Wasim Akram's house, pelted stones and burned his poster in streets. Akram was not even a part of the match against India though. Many Pakistani fans committed suicide. This showed that the after-effect of India and Pakistan's clash can be very daunting.
This was Javed Miandad's record 6th World Cup appearance and also his last one.