India-Pakistan World Cup games

Walk down memory lane: India-Pakistan World Cup games

Pakistan are yet to beat India in a World Cup match. 

It seems like it was yesterday that the ultra-rich and the poor were bound by a common thread that spelt victory. A vast, diverse nation was united by emotions like relief and satisfaction, delight and national pride. India's peoples' collective desire to encourage success came through tellingly when the team beat Pakistan for the fifth time in a World Cup cricket match in 2011.

Of course, there are many memories of India-Pakistan cricket, including Test matches in both nations, ODIs at a lot of venues, including Sharjah, and T20Is, including the first two in the ICC World Twenty20 2007 in South Africa. But, given that the World Cup comes only in four years, it would be appropriate to sift them and focus on the matches under the Big Tent.

The most emotional of them all, personally speaking, was played in 1996. Of course, India had won in Sydney in March 1992 but the contest in 1996 was played in Bangalore where the atmosphere was electrifying. Everyone recalls the spat between Pakistan captain Aamir Sohail and Indian swing bowler Venkatesh Prasad but there was more in that match than just that.

With Wasim Akram pulling out of the game, Waqar Younis was Pakistan's lead bowler and Ajay Jadeja waded into him in the final three overs. India took 41 runs off those overs. The other strong memory I have of that match is Javed Miandad's slow walk back to the pavilion after being run out. It was almost as if his shoes were weighed down with lead.

Three years later, England got their first insight into the nature of fans from the sub-continent and those who traced their roots back to South Asia as Mohammed Azharuddin's team won a tight game at Old Trafford in Manchester. Azharuddin himself launched a late attack to give the Indians a good total to defend and Venkatesh Prasad responded with a five-wicket burst.

From our seats in the press box, we could only sense a hint of trouble between the fans of the two teams, especially second-and-third-generation members of immigrant families but we learnt much later that some uncouth fans burnt the Indian flag after the match and were hauled up the law officers.

When India beat Pakistan in Centurion in the 2003 World Cup, Rahul Banerji, my colleague from the now defunct website espnstar.com, and I were pulled to the terrace of our East Delhi apartment to watch fireworks light up the night sky. It was a veritable Diwali in March, the pyrotechnics doing justice to the strokeplay of a certain Sachin Tendulkar.

The 2011 semifinal in Mohali saw the bowlers scrape hard to win for India and this after Tendulkar was dropped quite a few times during his 85 and Pakistani paceman Wahab Riaz's five. Dhoni's wisdom in choosing left-arm paceman Ashish Nehra over R Ashwin won him praise for his assured captaincy.

There was one frame that etched itself on my mind and I have to thank Shahid Afridi and Zaheer Khan and their smiles for that. Afridi chipped Zaheer to mid-wicket and the ball dropped just short of the fielder there and he managed just a single. As Afridi completed the run, they both broke into a smile.

Despite the unprecedented hype that preceded the game, there was not a hint of acrimony on the field that some expected in the high-voltage clash. This was highlighted when Nehra did not claim a catch after flinging himself forward at deep mid-wicket. And skipper Afridi showed grace when he unhesitatingly said "I want to say sorry to the people of Pakistan".

I remember being in the studios of All India Radio and as I drove back home afterwards, it seemed that flag-waving fans, young and old, were at the India Gate and Connaught Place, showcasing an outpouring of emotion that had started as soon as the cricket ball found safety in Virat Kohli's hands to signal the completion of the match.

What new memories will Sunday offer?