Everybody and their mother-in-law is writing a blog post on the big cricket match on Wednesday. It does take a superhuman effort or an utter dislike or extreme disinterest in cricket for someone in the sub-continent to avoid expressing their opinion on the second semi-finals of the 2011 Cricket World Cup. I intend to do something different. No opinions, only facts.

Here’s the biggest dope of India versus Pakistan One Day cricket stats that I could conjure. Most of them, you know. Some are revelations.

Matches played: 119
India won: 46
Pakistan won: 69
No result: 4

Matches played in the World Cup: 4
India won: 4
Pakistan won: 0

Matched played in India: 26
India won: 9
Pakistan won: 17

The first India versus Pakistan ODI was played at Quetta on October 1, 1978. India won the 40 over match by 4 runs. India scored 170/7 and Pakistan could only muster 166/8. Mohinder Amarnath with 51 runs and 38/2 was the man of the match.

The last India-Pakistan ODI (prior to the Mohali Word Cup clash) was played at Dambulla, Sri Lanka. India won by 3 wickets. Pakistan scored 267 and India replied with 271/7. Gautam Gambhir got the man of the match for his 81 runs.

As mentioned above, India met Pakistan four times in the World Cup and won all. A brief synopsis of the four matches:

1. 1992 Benson & Hedges World Cup (India won by 43 runs)
Sydney Cricket Ground. March 4, 1992

India 216/7
Sachin Tendulkar 54, Ajay Jadeja 46
Manoj Prabhakar 2/22, Kapil Dev 2/30

Pakistan 173
Aamer Sohail 62, Javed Miandad 40
Mushtaq Ahmed 3/59, Aaqib Javed 2/28

2. 1996 Wills World Cup – Quarter-finals (India won by 39 runs)
Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore.  March 9, 1996

India 287/8
Navjot Sidhu 92, Ajay Jadeja 45
Venkatesh Prasad 3/45, Anil Kumble 3/48

Pakistan 248/9
Aamer Sohail 55, Saeed Anwar 48
Mushtaq Ahmed 2/56, Waqar Younis 2/67

3. 1999 ICC World Cup (India won by 47 runs)
Old Trafford, Manchester. June 8, 1999

India 227/6
Rahul Dravid 61, Md Azharuddin 59
Venkatesh Prasad 5/27, Javagal Srinath 3/37

Pakistan 180
Inzamam-ul-Haq 41, Saeed Anwar 36
Wasim Akram 2/27, Azhar Mahmood 2/35

4. 2003 ICC World Cup (India won by 6 wickets)
SuperSport Park, Centurion. March 1, 2003

Pakistan 273/7
Saeed Anwar 101, Younis Khan 32
Waqar Younis 2/71, Shahid Afridi 1/45

India 276/4
Sachin Tendulkar 98, Yuvraj Singh 50
Zaheer Khan 2/46, Ashish Nehra 2/74

There have been only one century scored in the four India-Pakistan World Cup matches, by Saeed Anwar in 2003. Sachin missed out on one by just 2 runs in the same match.

While it is popularly believed that Javed Miandad’s last ball six off Chetan Sharma at the Austral-Asia Cup final in Sharjah tilted the One Day equations in favour of Pakistan, something which India dominated previously, is actually not totally correct. India did dominate (a bit), but Pakistan were no pushovers. Both countries  played 16 ODIs. India won 8 and Pakistan 7. One match played on October 31, 1984 was abandoned when the news of the assassination of Indira Gandhi arrived. The series was also called off.

India’s highest score against Pakistan is 356/9 at Visakhapatnam on April 5, 2005.

Pakistan’s highest is 344/8 at Karachi on March 13, 2004. But Pakistan lost the match as India overhauled their score putting together 349/7. That match yielded 693 runs in all making it the highest for any India-Pakistan ODI.

India’s lowest score against Pakistan is a measly 79 at Sialkot on October 13, 1978. India’s highest scorer in the match was Mohiner Amarnath who hit 34 and Kapil Dev was the only other player to reach double digits at 11. Needless to say, India lost.

Pakistan’s lowest was only a wee bit better. They were all out for 87 at Sharjah on March 22, 1985 responding to India’s not-to-be-very-proud-of score 125. Kapil Dev took 3 for 17 (in 6.5 overs) and the miserly Ravi Shastri gave away only 17 runs in his 10 overs (that included 5 maidens) while scalping 2 wickets. Gavaskar held four catches in the match.

When it comes to the margin of victories, Pakistan have an overwhelming edge. Of the 10 biggest margin of victories (by runs) 9 are Pakistan wins. In wicket victories 6 are in Pakistan’s favour and 4 are for India.

Pakistan’s biggest margin of win (by runs) was when they beat India by 159 runs at Delhi on April 17, 2005. Pakistan had scored 303/8 and India were all out for 144. India’s biggest win was in Dhaka when Pakistan were bowled out for 190 in response to India’s 330/8.

Pakistan’s biggest wicket victory was at Lahore, October 2, 1987 when they won by 9 wickets. India had put together 216 runs and Pakistan, led by Ijaz Ahmed’s 139* scored 219 in only 26.2 overs losing only 1 wicket at a run rate of 8.31.

A lot is being said about Sohaib Akhtar versus Sachin Tendulkar encounter. Akhtar famously bowled out Sachin in the very first ball he delivered to the master in Calcutta Test (February 16-20, 1999).

The first Sohaib-Sachin One Day encounter happened at Old Trafford during the 1999 World Cup but it wasn’t that dramatic. The first ball he delivered to Sachin was a wide down the leg side. Sohaib bowled 13 balls to Sachin and gave away 10 runs including 1 wide and a 4.

When it comes to India-Pakistan encounters, Inzamam-ul-Haq is the most prolific run getter scoring 2403 runs, Sachin Tendulkar is only a little behind with 2389.

I still remember Saeed Anwar’s mammoth 194 against India at Chennai on May 21, 1997. He got a standing ovation. This remains the highest individual score in Indo-Pak ODIs. For India the highest was by MS Dhoni when he blasted through the Pakistani bowling attack to score 148 of India’s 356 runs at Visakhapatnam on April 5, 2005.

The current Indian captain Dhoni has the best average (54.22) against the Pakistanis. For the Pakistanis it is Salman Butt with 52.21. The current Pakistani captain also has a record to his name (except for being forever young). Afridi has a strike rate of 108.67 against India, while India’s Virender Sehwag has punished Pakistani bowlers at the rate of 103.41 (runs per 100 balls).

Afridi may be the fastest scorer, but he also has the most number of ducks (6) to his credit in Indo-Pak matches that is only matched by Javagal Srinath for India.

For the maximum number of centuries against the opposition (India or Pakistan) Sachin and Salman Butt are tied with 5 centuries each. Only that Butt has scored them in fewer matches (21 matches against India) compared to Sachin (67 matches against Pakistan). Sachin has also scored the most 50s (19) against Pakistan than any other Indian. Amongst the Pakistanis it is Inzamam with 16 50s against India.

Wasim Akram had spearheaded Pakistan’s bowling assault against India and it shows in the damages done. Akram in his career against India took 60 Indian wickets. Anil Kumble gathered the most Pakistani scalps for India (54). Aaqib Javed’s 7/37 at Sharjah on October 25, 1991 remains the best bowling figures in any India-Pakistan ODI. Sourav Ganguly’s 5/16 at Toronto on September 18, 1997 was the best by an Indian.

In bowling averages Imran Khan was the most lethal at 22.25, followed by Anil Kumble at 24.25. Wasim Akram was the stingiest of them all giving away only 3.73 runs an over. Amongst Indians it was Kapil Dev at 4.21 runs per over. Waqar Younis took an Indian wicket every 31.7 balls and Anil Kumble responded with one every 33.8 balls. Aaqib Javed has 3 five-wicket hauls against India, amongst Indians Ganguly, Sachin and Venkatesh Prasad have one each to their credit. Prasad’s was in the 1999 World Cup.

In terms of the most runs conceded in an innings, Pakistani bowlers are as large-hearted as Indians. If Sohail Tanvir gave away 87 runs in 10 overs at Karachi on July 2, 2008, India’s T Kumaran conceded 86 runs to the Pakistanis at Dhaka on June 3, 2000.

Behind the stumps Moin Khan was responsible for 71 Indian dismissals and MS Dhoni is a distant second with 30 dismissals. Azharuddin’s 44 catches against Pakistan would have surely won us many matches. For the Pakistanis Afridi clasped 28.

Cricket is also about partnerships. The best opening partnership in any India-Pakistan match is of 159 runs between Sachin and Sourav at Dhaka on January 14, 1998. The biggest partnership for any wicket was between Sachin and Navjot Singh Sidhu who scored 231 runs at Sharjah on April 15, 1996. The highest Pakistani partnership was only a run lesser, 230 between Saeed Anwar and Ijaz Ahmed at Dhaka on January 18, 1998. India had won that edge-of-the seat match. Pakistan powered by the Anwar-Ijaz partnership posted a very formidable 314/5. In response India lead by Ganguly’s 124 and Robin Singh’s 82 scored 316/7 with a ball to spare. It was at that time a record for the biggest successful chase in ODIs. It was the third of the three finals of Bangladesh’s Independence Cup. India won 2-1.

That result was also historically apt. India had defeated Pakistan in a war to give Bangladesh its Independence and India beat Pakistan to lift the Silver Jubilee Independence Cup. Coincidentally, today, 26 March, is Bangladesh’s Independence Day (though the actual liberation happened on December 16, 1971).

Of the 199 matches played between India and Pakistan, Sachin and Inzamam played in 67 of them and Azharuddin lead India in 25 matches (winning only 9). Imran Khan, on the other hand, led Pakistan in 24 matches against India winning 19. Under Dhoni’s leadership India played 11 matches against Pakistan winning 6.

Statistics can only predict possibilities, they cannot predict results. But statistics do make the match more interesting. Here’s to a thriller of an encounter that could very well change much of what has been written above.

Stumpy - Mascot of the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup
Stumpy - Mascot of the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup atop the TV set in my living room
Indian Flag Huge
One of the largest flags of India in the online world (5000 pixels wide). Right click to download.
Pakistani Flag Largest
One of the largest flags of Pakistan in the online world (5000 pixels wide). Right click to download.
Categories: Cricket Sports