The India–Pakistan cricket rivalry is one of the most extreme and intensified sports rivalries in the world. The tensed relations between the two nations, resulting from bitter diplomatic relationship and conflict that marked the Partition of British India into India and Pakistan in 1947 and the subsequent Kashmir conflict, laid the foundations for the emergence of an intense sporting rivalry between the two nations who had otherwise shared a common cricketing heritage.
It is without a shadow of a doubt the biggest match in the world of Cricket. The rivalry of these two cricket neighbouring nation has lots of history in itself, and a cricket match between these two nations is enough to make any casual sports fan invest on the game of cricket. There have been many close games between the two rivals. In fact, this cricket rivalry has taken cricket to the whole next level.
The first Test series between the two teams took place in 1951–52, when Pakistan toured India. Head to head Pakistan has had an edge over India in ODI cricket with 73 wins vs India’s 54 and 11 wins in test as opposed to India’s 9. India toured Pakistan for the first time in 1954-55. Between 1962 and 1977, no cricket was played between the two countries owing to two major wars in 1965 and 1971. The 1999 Kargil War and the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks have also interrupted cricketing ties between the two nations.
The growth of large expatriate populations from India and Pakistan across the world led to neutral states like the United Arab Emirates and Canada hosting several bilateral and multilateral ODI series involving the two teams. Tickets for the India-Pakistan match in the 2015 World Cup in Australia sold out in 11 minutes after they went on sale.
Players in both teams routinely face intense pressure to win, and are threatened by extreme reactions in defeat. Extreme fan reactions to defeats in key matches such as in the ICC Cricket World Cup have been recorded, with a limited degree of violence and public disturbances. At the same time, India-Pakistan cricket matches have also offered opportunities for cricket diplomacy as a means to improve relations between the two countries by allowing heads of state to exchange visits and cricket followers from either country to travel to the other to watch the matches. But the rivalry had finally grown so much that Indian Government issued a bill that stated that Indian players will not be going to Pakistan for safety reasons.
First Match: 1st ODI, India won by 4 runs at Ayub National Stadium, Quetta, on Oct 01, 1978.
Last Match: 3rd Match – Super Four in 2018 Asia Cup; India won by 9 wickets at Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sept. 23, 2018.
- Overall ODI Head to Head:
- Played: 129
- Won by India: 52
- Won by Pakistan: 73
- No result: 4
The table only includes those World Cup tournaments where India and Pakistan faced each other
| S. No. | Tournament | Host | ODIs | IND | PAK | Tie/NR | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1992 Cricket World Cup | Australia New Zealand | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Pakistan |
| 2 | 1996 Cricket World Cup | India Pakistan Sri Lanka | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Sri Lanka |
| 3 | 1999 Cricket World Cup | England Scotland Wales Ireland Netherlands | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Australia |
| 4 | 2003 Cricket World Cup | South Africa Zimbabwe Kenya | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Australia |
| 5 | 2011 Cricket World Cup | India Sri Lanka Bangladesh | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | India |
| 6 | 2015 Cricket World Cup | Australia New Zealand | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Australia |
| Total | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
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