The two teams first met when Pakistan toured India for a five-match Test series in 1952. The hosts prevailed 2-1 in the series. Since then, the two countries have played a number of Test, ODI, and T20I matches. However, as political tensions and many wars between the two countries increased over time, cricket suffered as both sides were ordered to stop playing against one another. India and Pakistan have faced off against each other 203 times at the international level to date, with Pakistan outperforming India in Tests and ODIs.
In front of 90,000 spectators on Sunday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Virat Kohli's unbroken 82-run innings propelled India to a surprising last-ball victory over Pakistan, boosting their quest for their first ICC Men's T20 World Cup victory since 2007. With the help of superstar Kohli, the world's best Indian team kept their tough adversaries to 159-8 and won by four wickets following an extraordinary last over Things seemed to be going horribly wrong as India crawled to just 45-4 after 10 overs, halfway through their chase.
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The struggling Kohli and Hardik Pandya (40), though, started a comeback by putting up a century stand. India therefore needed 16 runs from Mohammad Nawaz's final over to complete their task. In a group that also features qualifiers South Africa, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, and the Netherlands, winning was essential because only the top two teams advance to the semi-finals. Since the late 1990s, India has mostly dominated Pakistan, but they have lost two of their three prior meetings, including by a combined score of 10 wickets in the group stages of both the recent Asia Cup and the T20 World Cup. On the strength of their batting lineup, India had been in strong recent form, winning home series against Australia and South Africa.