Shaheen to Kohli, five memorable India vs Pakistan T20I showdowns

Archrivals India and Pakistan will clash at the T20 World Cup 2024 in New York on Sunday for the 13th time in crickets shortest format The two nucleararmed nations only face each other in international tournaments due to political tensions and last met in a 2022 T20 World Cup encounter in Melbourne when India won The tally in their T20 encounters so far stands in Indias favour with nine wins to three but the honours are even in their last four matches Ahead of the mega T20 World Cup 2024 showdown on Sunday MidDay looks back at five memorable IndiaPakistan T20 matchesWily Dhoni India and Pakistans first T20 encounter at Durban in 2007 ended in a dramatic tie before being decided in a bowlout crickets equivalent of footballs penalty shootout Pakistan elected to field in the group match in the inaugural T20 World Cup and restricted India to 1419 With the scores level at the end of Pakistans reply India skipper MS Dhoni then outfoxed the opposition by choosing nonspecialists to try to hit the wicket rather than regular bowlers used to tempting batsmen to offer catches Parttime bowlers Virender Sehwag Robin Uthappa and premier spinner Harbhajan Singh all hit the stumps while Pakistans topline pacemen Yasir Arafat and Umar Gul and spinner Shahid Afridi all missed It is the only time a World Cup match has been decided by a bowlout with the tiebreaker now replaced by a super over Misbah misfires After meeting in the group stage of that inaugural World Cup in 2007 the two rivals went on to face each other again 10 days later in the final in Johannesburg the only time they have contested a final Set 158 for victory Pakistan lost wickets regularly but MisbahulHaq kept the target in sight with his gritty batting Pakistan reached the final over needing 13 against an unlikely Indian bowling option in Joginder Sharma Misbah hit a six after a wide and a dot ball to need six from four balls only to opt for a scoop shot that got more height than distance It landed in the hands of S Sreesanth at short fineleg to trigger wild Indian celebrations as they won the World Cup by five runsShaheen strikes India started as favourites in a 2021 T20 World Cup group match in Dubai but Pakistan pace ace Shaheen Shah Afridi soon upset the predictions Tall leftarm quick Shaheen sent back opener Rohit Sharma for a firstball duck as he rattled the Indian toporder finishing with 331 Virat Kohli attempted to rebuild with 57 but fell to Shaheen in the penultimate over Mohammad Rizwan made 79 and skipper Babar Azam 68 as Pakistan took the India bowling attack apart to cruise to a 10wicket win their first ever World Cup victory against their fiercest rivalsAlso ReadSuper Sunday ShowdownAllround Nawaz Pakistan returned to Dubai to face India in the 2022 Asia Cup Super Four clash after they were beaten by the neighbours in the group stage India rode on Kohlis 60 to reach 1817 but the total could have been more had it not been from some disciplined bowling by Pakistan spinners Mohammad Nawaz and Shadab Khan Lefthander Nawaz returned figures of 125 before he hammered a 20ball 42 to steer Pakistan to a fivewicket victory with one ball to spareKing Kohli at MCG Most recently in a T20 the two rivals met in an electric atmosphere at a packed 90000capacity Melbourne Cricket Ground for a 2022 T20 World Cup group match Pakistan posted 1598 and had India in trouble at 314 before Virat Kohli played a knock for the ages with an unbeaten 82 off 53 balls putting on a key stand of 113 with Hardik Pandya India needed 31 off the final 12 balls but Kohli hit two sixes off pace bowler Haris Rauf in the 19th over and India won by four wickets on the final ball fkslbbspWith agency inputs