The Bittersweet India-Pakistan Rivalry

It’s no surprise to anyone how emotionally charged India-Pakistan cricket clashes can get. Even a person who’s never seen or heard of the game, knows when their clash is due. We bring you some of the top India-Pakistan moments that most fans cannot forget.

1. Javed Miandad becomes ‘Jumping Jack’?

In the 1992 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, India and Pakistan met each other for the first time in World Cups. Backed by Sachin Tendulkar’s 54*, India posted 216 on the board with Kapil Dev playing an aggressive innings of 35 off 26 balls. During Pakistan’s innings, it all began when Tendulkar bowled one down the leg side. Javed Miandad tried a nudge, and it went through to wicket keeper Kiran More. In an extravagant appeal for a quite remarkable non-event, More shouted long and loud, with his little frame leaping up and down in entreaty. The umpire was not interested and Miandad was not amused.

Miandad pushed the next ball towards mid-off and took off for a single, and made a fast turn and got back to his crease as the throw came in quickly. More whipped off the bails, with Miandad well inside but this did not get down well with Miandad.?Miandad went through the peculiar leaps that have been been come to known as one of the iconic moments of cricket history between both the nations. With the two ends of the bat clutched in his hands, the batsman executed several spot jumps, bringing his knees up to the chest.?Apparently it was supposed to mimic More?s appeals, but as an imitation, it left a lot to be desired.

2. Venkatesh Prasad gives Aamir Sohail a send off?

India and Pakistan met again at 1996 World Cup, but this time in a knock-out match, the 2nd quarter final at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. India batted first and on the back of Navjot Singh Sidhu’s 93 and Ajay Jadeja’s assault on Waqar Younis in the death overs, posted a very good score of 287/8.

Pakistan openers Saaed Anwar and Aamir Sohail came out and made Indians chase leather from the word ‘GO’. Pakistan had crossed the 100-run mark in under 14 overs and Pakistani Captain Aamir Sohail had reached his fifty. In the 15th over, Aamir Sohail charged down to Prasad and hit him for a boundary over point. All this was fine, but what he did afterwards was completely uncalled for. He gestured Prasad that he should go and fetch the ball from the boundary so that he could again hit the next ball for four.

The reply from Venkatesh Prasad one was a classical one, in the typical ‘you miss and I hit’ way, Prasad knocked Aamir Sohail’s off stump out of the ground and showed him the way to the dressing. In hindsight, Aamir Sohail came off looking as very stupid as his dismissal was to be the turning point of that match.

3. Virender Sehwag answers Umar Gul with a straight bat

In the 2011 World Cup, India and Pakistan were to meet in the second semifinal at Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali. While India earned a hard fought victory over defending Champions Australian in Motera, Ahmedabad, Pakistan coasted to an easy win over West Indies in the 1st Quarter Final in Mirpur. Pakistan’s Umar Gul had been in great form in the World Cup and had said in the media that he’ll target India’s top three as India are over-reliant on them.

None of the Indian batsmen said anything and come the day of the semi-final, Virender Sehwag answered all the claims made by Umar Gul in the manner which he knows best, hitting Umar Gul for 5 fours in an over and putting Pakistan on the backfoot.

Sehwag flicked, cut, drove and hit Umar Gul everywhere on the cricket field. The impact of the Sehwag’s assault was such that Umar Gul was the most expensive of all the Pakistani bowlers and went wicketless. Later in an interview, Sehwag admitted that his attack on Gul was pre-planned.?In Sehwag’s own words, “We were really charged up against the match in Pakistan. I said I will take on Umar Gul. If I score a couple of boundaries off him, Pakistan will be on the backfoot and that exactly happened in the match.”

4. Gambhir indulges into ‘Boom-Boom’ with Afridi:

This incident took place in the bilateral series between India and Pakistan held in India in 2007, months after the two teams had met in the final of the inaugural World T20 in Johannesburg. India had gone off to a great start as Saurav Ganguly and Sachin tendulkar stitched an opening partnership of 68 runs but both were dismissed in quick succession. This brought Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh to the wicket and both start consolidating India’s position.

The incident occurred when Shahid Afridi was bowling to Gambhir. A verbal spat followed after Gambhir hit Afridi for a four, and the next ball the players collided while Gambhir ran for a single. A heated argument followed and was brought to a halt only after on-field umpire Ian Gould’s intervention.

5. Harbhajan hits ‘Roaring’ Six to answer Shoaib Akhtar:

After the 2008 attacks in Mumbai, India-Pakistan meetings became rare and due to this fact, the intensity was always a notch higher. In 2010, India and Pakistan met in Dambulla, Sri Lanka in what was a do-or-die match for both the teams in order to reach the finals.

Pakistan batting first had put up 267 runs on the board and were all out in 49.3 overs. India in their reply were being led by Gautam Gambhir and captain MS Dhoni. But things changed when Kamran Akmal an Gautam Gambhir got into an argument in the second breaks. This disturbed Gambhir’s concentration and he was dismissed soon after. Wickets kept falling for India at regular intervals and India found themselves in trouble needing 38 to win 29 balls with 4 wickets in hand. This is when Harbhajan Singh walked in.

Harbhajan, the kind of batsmen he is, started going for wild swings and hit Shoaib Akhtar delivery for six. In the second last over, Harbhajan played two dots of Akhtar and got an earful from Akhtar. In the final over, with India needing 7 to win, Suresh Raina was run out in a desperate attempt to take strike as Harbhajan was missing deliveries. But, Bhajji redeemed himself after hitting a six of Mohammed Aamir when 3 runs were required off 2 balls and roared towards Akhtar after hitting the winning shot.