India vs Pakistan in Asia Cup: A history of the intense rivalry

Now, that the Test series against England is lost, Indian fans look forward to Asia Cup starting in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) next week. Although India will not see regular captain Virat Kohli in their ranks for he has been rested keeping in view his workload, it will not dilute any excitement in the tournament for the Men in Blue will take on arch-rivals Pakistan at least twice in the tournament.

India and Pakistan have not met each other for over a year now and the last tournament in which they locked horns was in Champions Trophy in England last year. There, while India thumped Pakistan in the group stage, the latter had a one-sided win the final to lift the trophy. The two sides haven’t played each other in any bilateral series for a long, long time owing to political reasons and that make their respective fans look forward to multilateral occasions like Asia Cup.

In the Asia Cup, India have been a more dominating force, winning the tournament six times as against Pakistan’s two. However, when it comes to their head-to-head encounters in Asia Cup, there is not much for the statisticians to distinguish. In 11 games they have played against each other until now, both have won five each with one remaining inconclusive.

Here we take a look at all India versus Pakistan matches in Asia Cup in brief:

1984: Four runouts derail Pak chase; India win by 54 runs

Led by Sunil Gavaskar, India tasted their first victory over the arch-rivals in the Rothmans Asia Cup in Sharjah in the opening edition in 1984. The match was a 46-over affair and India won the toss and elected to bat.

Riding a half-century from opening wicket-keeper-batsman Surinder Khanna, India posted 188 for 4 in their allotted overs. Sandeep Patil chipped in with a 50-ball 43 while skipper Gavaskar remained not out on 36 off 55 balls at No.5.

For Pakistan, Shahid Mahboob was the pick of the bowlers with 1 wicket for 23 runs in 10 overs. Pakistan faced a batting debacle and lost their last six wickets for just nine runs to get all out for 134 in 39.4 overs. For India, Roger Binny and Ravi Shastri each took a three-for while as many as four Pakistani batsmen were run out. Skipper Zaheer Abbas was their highest scorer with 27. Khanna was adjudged the man of the match.