Whoever said that this was a gentleman’s game, in all certainty, had no idea of the existence of two teams that defied it entirely. The Asian stalwarts pack nothing short of over two-hundred percent intensity every time they meet each other, and though it’s all jolly off the field, the turf - momentarily - turns into a battlefield.
A quick trip down memory lane, if you like, on some of the closest matches between these two teams. These are cricketing memories that will go down with me to the grave.
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Austral-Asia Cup Final, 18 April 1986 - Sharjah
Mom was sitting first-row in the stands when Javed Miandad creamed Chetan Sharma over the leg-side for maximum. I was hardly three, a toddler - didn’t even know the difference between right and wrong (and still don’t, ironically). What I figured out years later from a rented video courtesy Ten Sports, was that the ball slipped from Sharma’s hand, and it ended up being a juicy full-toss.
Miandad doesn’t miss many. Chishty Mujahid’s cricketing tongue had worked overtime, losing all subtlety, as the Pakistanis were ecstatic. But, for my family that had moved to the Emirates a few years back, that close finish meant only one thing. The CBFS (Sharjah’s Cricket Stadium and Authority) was a second-home.
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Wills Trophy, 25 October 1991 - Sharjah
If you’re Indian, this match is best forgotten - a stereotype 90s India-Pakistan standoff where the home-team (Pakistan) came out victorious again. Aaqib Javed, then a fearless youth making his way out of the teens, came screaming in to simply demolish the Indian batting (and reputation). After a circumspect start chasing 262 on a wicket that offered assistance to the likes of Younis and Akram, Shastri and Sidhu went after Imran Khan, prompting the first change.
Aaqib Javed had arrived. Sidhu was the first victim, getting a faint nick to Moin Khan. About fifteen runs later, Javed had decided that it was now time to unleash his magic, and then came that memorable hat-trick.
Shastri was the first to go, trapped plumb they said, although from where I was in the stands - square leg - one couldn’t tell. Azza entered, and exited almost immediately, another leg-before-wicket. And then, my hero, a young Sachin Tendulkar, strolled in calmly. Javed was bowling with good pace and was in excellent form. Tendulkar, smartly, was taking his time with the guard, trying to upset the bowler’s rhythm. All in vain, though, as another one crashed into the pads. Eleven Pakistanis on the field (and about a few thousand in the stands) went up in tandem - a huge vocal eruption that asked the question - and the finger went up.
Here I was in the AED 50/- East Stand, then a Pakistani stronghold, completely dumbfounded. All around me, I could see salwar-khamees clad cabbies, screaming in Urdu and Pushto, and then breaking into their Pakistan Zindabads and the Hindustan Murdabads at will. We were both, outnumbered and outplayed, and I made a sad though memorable exit from the stands. If nothing, I had surrendered to the fact that Pakistan’s pace attack, definitely, deserved more respect that hatred.
Wills World Cup Quarter-Final, 9 March 1996 - Bangalore
Batting first, the Indian openers provided a good, strong platform even as Tendulkar was dismissed off an unlucky-inside edge for 31. Sidhu, however, went on to make 93 - but that match had two moments - two overs if you may - that I can recollect at will.
Jadeja was in. Waqar Younis had bowled his toe-crunching yorkers with incredible accuracy. The Indian batsman, however, took to the attack and played one of the finest innings in ODIs ever. Younis was taken to the cleaners, as Jadeja raced to 45 from 25 with two huge sixers at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Younis had finally got his man, although he finished with figures of 67 from his quota of 10. India, who were looking set to score a tad above 250, had suddenly raced to 287 at the end of their 50, carrying the momentum into the break, half the job done one would think.
But then again, we missed the Pakistani openers’ names, didn’t we? A certain Saeed Anwar, and keeping him company was Aamir Sohail. Need I say more?
The aforementioned demolition squad picked their gaps, went aerial and made mimicry of Srinath and Prasad, the local boys. Bangalore was absolutely stunned at the Pakistani onslaught, until Anwar skied one to Kumble. Srinath, a thorough gentleman, smiled and celebrated with little excitement (especially in comparison to today’s Sreesanths).
But the wicket fired up Venkatesh Prasad, the current Indian team’s bowling coach. More so, it fired him up against Aamir Sohail, and I had never witnessed anything of the sort in International cricket before.
Aamir Sohail screamed one past the covers for four. Prasad gave him a glare - as every fast bowler would - as Sohail pointed his bat towards the fence. Fetch it, the gesture said. Prasad walked back to the run-up, slowly, although the every blood-carrier in the body had concentrated on the face - it was a dusky red. He ran in for the next one, transferring the ball from the left hand to the right midway, before letting it go. It pitched on a good length and cut into Sohail a bit. The batsman missed it, and the ball went crashing into the top of off, meeting its destiny.
And a fiery Prasad gave a now-calm (and silly-looking) Sohail directions to the dressing room at his home ground. A few minutes later, I had started breathing normally. A few hours later, I was celebrating. India had won and were through to the semis, they had overcome the Pakis in a city I called ‘home’. Piping hot pakodas did the rounds at home.
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Silver Jubilee Independence Cup - 3rd Final, 18 January 1998 - Dhaka
India and Pakistan at a neutral venue, again. Wow.
Batting first, Pakistan had amassed 314, the Indian pacers going for above seven an over. This was courtesy two centuries, Saeed Anwar - India’s biggest adversary - had scored 140, and Ejaz Ahmed made 117. Both hundreds were brisk and brutal, leaving India with a challenging task, and in those days, chasing 314 wasn’t just improbable - it was the highest run-chase if made. In hindsight, the Dhaka pitch was as flat as can be, so Ganguly and Tendulkar would have been interested anyhow.
And they were. Ganguly was circumspect, piercing the off-side when the bad ball arrived. Tendulkar, however, screamed to 41 from 26 as Afridi snapped him up. Rashid Latif’s smart gamble had paid off, only just, although Robin Singh took to the attack as well. With Ganguly consolidating, Singh picked up the momentum, scoring at a run-a-ball, before he popped a catch to a eager Aaqib Javed.
And then, India only went downhill. One would think, with the Jadeja dismissal, India were beyond repair, but a Mongia boundary meant that a nail-biter of a finish beckoned. It was down to the last over, and with 3 needed from 2 balls, Kanitkar took guard. Saqlain Mushtaq - a bowler who, with Muralitharan, saved off-spin from extinction - had the ball in the hand. It pitched between middle-and-leg and Kanitkar slog-swept it. A tad aerial, over mid-wicket. Four runs.
Saffron, white and green celebrated. Three Pakistani kids in school were absent the next day. Heads hung in shame at having snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
ICC World Cup Pool A, 1 March 2003 - Centurion
Remember the ‘greatest moment in the 2003 World Cup’, when Sachin Tendulkar ‘derailed’ the Rawalpindi Express over third man for six? Remember the short defensive block that raced to mid-on for four? Remember India coasting along to 276 in no time, even as Saeed Anwar had (again) scored a century first up?
A scorcher of a bouncer had done the injured Sachin in, but that was only after he picked 98 off a Pakistan attack that boasted of Akram, Younis and Akhtar in an important game. It was left for Dravid and Yuvraj to finish, and they did so in style, Dravid pulling Younis behind square-leg for four. Match in the pocket, Tendulkar was fired-up as ever in the presentation ceremony too, and I can distinctly remember: “We have beaten them before in the World Cup and we will beat them again too.” Heaploads of aggression from a man whose size is inversely proportional to his genius.
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ICC World Twenty20, 14 September 2007 - Kingsmead, Durban
A week back, this.
India lost their top four very cheaply, and it was left to Robin Uthappa to rescue them from nowhere. Mohammed Asif had bowled the spell of the tournament, four wickets in four overs for a miserly 18, as Uthappa looked to attack the lesser-experienced Yasir Arafat who actually had Twenty20 experience in England. Last-minute cameos from Dhoni and Pathan ensured India finished at 141, adding some respectability to the card. It was up to the bowlers now, to contain the Pakistani batsmen at under seven an over on a slippery wicket.
For most of the chase, it seemed that India would get through easily, until Misbah-ul-Haq played the innings of his life. 53 from 37, he nearly did the job, but in a display of complete inanity, the batsman managed to make a mess of what would’ve been a great run-chase, being run out of the last-ball. The match was tied and the first bowl-out I had ever witnessed followed.
We all know what happened after that, don’t we?
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… and many more to come. India and Pakistan has certainly been cricket’s biggest attraction to date. There have been memorable moments, bitter and sweet. But for now, it’s the Twenty20 World Cup Final on Monday.
Wouldn’t miss it for the world.
