The IndiaâÂÂPakistan cricket rivalry is one of the most intense sports rivalries in the world. Matches between the teams are considered some of the biggest in the world and are among the most-viewed in all of sports.
The two teams have played a total of 212 times, with Pakistan winning 88 matches and India winning 81. In Tests and ODIs, Pakistan has been victorious in more games than India, while India has won more games in T20Is. In ICC World Cups, the two teams have met head to head in 17 matches, with India winning 16 of them. Both India and Pakistan have won the ICC Cricket World Cup, the ICC T20 World Cup, as well as other prestigious tournaments. In fact, India has won eight ICC trophies, while Pakistan has won three ICC trophies.
The tense relations between the two nations, resulting from bitter diplomatic relations and conflict that originated during the Partition of British India into India and Pakistan in 1947, the Indo-Pakistani Wars, Kashmir conflict, and Pakistani state sponsored terrorism laid the foundations for the emergence of a fierce sporting rivalry between the two nations who had shared a common cricketing heritage.
The two teams first played in 1952, when Pakistan toured India. Since then numerous Test series and, later, One Day International (ODI) series have been played, although a number of planned tours by both teams have been cancelled or aborted due to political factors. No cricket was played between the two countries from 1962 to 1977 due to two major wars in 1965 and 1971, and the 1999 Kargil War and the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks also interrupted cricketing ties between the two nations.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the growth of large expatriate populations from both countries across the world led to neutral venues to host bilateral and multilateral ODI series featuring the two teams. In addition, there has always been high demand for tickets for the matches between the two in global ICC competitions, with over 800,000 ticket applications made for their meeting in the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup; the television transmission of the match was watched by 273 million viewers.
Players from both teams routinely face extreme pressure to win and are threatened by extreme reactions in defeat. Extreme fan reactions to defeats in key matches have been recorded, with a limited degree of hooliganism. At the same time, IndiaâÂÂPakistan matches have also offered opportunities for cricket diplomacy as a means to improve relations between the two countries, allowing heads of state and cricket followers from either country to travel to the other to watch the matches.
The last full bilateral tour between the teams was Pakistan's tour of India in 2007, where both Test and ODI series were played. However, following the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, orchestrated by Pakistan based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba, India suspended the planned 2009 series and all future engagements with Pakistan. The attack eventually led to detrimental consequences for both nations, in diplomacy and cricket. Since then, as both teams only meet in ICC or ACC tournaments and with India emerging as the winner on most occasions, the rivalry in cricketing sense has faded to an extent, prompting Indian Captain Suryakumar Yadav to say it isn't a rivalry anymore.
The Partition of British India in 1947 that led to the creation of independent Indian and Pakistani states was characterised by bloody conflict between ethnic groups that left one million people dead and led to the mass-migration of an estimated ten million people between either nation. The legacy of Partition and subsequent territorial disputes have helped create heated rivalries in field hockey, association football, and especially in cricket, which had been developed during British colonial rule and is the most popular sport in both nations.
Pakistan became a member of the Imperial Cricket Conference (now the International Cricket Council) in 1948, becoming a Full Member in July 1952. Their tour of India later the same year saw the team play their first Test matches. They lost the first Test in Delhi to India, but won the second Test in Lucknow, which led to an angry reaction from the home crowd against the Indian players. India clinched the Test series after winning the third Test in Bombay, but the intense pressure affected the players of both teams to the point that they pursued mainly defensive tactics that led to drawn matches and whole series without a victory. When India toured Pakistan in 1955, thousands of Indian fans were granted visas to go to the Pakistani city of Lahore to watch the Test match, but both the 1955 series and Pakistan's tour of India in 1961 ended in drawn series, with neither team being able to win a single Test match. Complaints about the fairness of umpires became routine.
The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 and subsequent War of 1971 put a hold on matches between the two teams that lasted till 1978, when India toured Pakistan and cricket between the two countries resumed for a brief period. In the post-1971 period, politics became a direct factor in the holding of cricketing events. India has suspended cricketing ties with Pakistan several times following terrorist attacks or other hostilities. The resumption of cricketing ties in 1978 came with the emergence of heads of government in both India and Pakistan who were not directly connected with the 1971 war and coincided with their formal initiatives to normalise bilateral relations.
In the late 1980s and for most of the 1990s, India and Pakistan played each other only at neutral venues such as Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates and in the Canadian city of Toronto, where large audiences of expatriates regularly watched matches between the teams. The series between the teams in Canada in the 1990s and early 2000s were officially known as the "Friendship Cup". Sharjah, even though a neutral venue, was considered as the "back yard of Pakistan" given the close proximity and the massive support the team generated.
The rise of multinational competitions, such as the ICC Cricket World Cup, ICC T20 World Cup, ICC Champions Trophy, and the Asia Cup led to more regular, albeit briefer, contests between the two teams.
In 1999, immediately following Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's historic visit to Pakistan, the Pakistani team toured India for a series of Test matches and One Day Internationals. The 2 match test series was drawn 1-1, and during the 2nd innings of second test, Anil Kumble took all 10 wickets, becoming the first Indian bowler to achieve the feat.The Kargil War later in the year caused tensions between the countries and cricket was again suspended.
Vajpayee's peace initiative of 2003 led to India touring Pakistan after a gap of almost 15 years. During the 2004 tour to Pakistan, Virender Sehwag scored his first triple century in the first test, scoring 309 from 375 balls, and was awarded Player of the Match. The 2004 series was won by India, 2-1 in Test matches and 3-2 in ODI matches. Subsequent exchange tours were held in March to April in 2005 in India, January to February 2006 in Pakistan and November to December 2007 in India. The 2005 test series ended as a draw 1-1, while the ODI series was won by Pakistan 4-2. The 2006 test series was won by Pakistan 1-0, with first 2 Test matches ending as a draw, while India won the ODI series 4-1. The 2007 series was won by India in both Test and ODI formats, at 1-0 and 3-2 respectively. The 2007 series would remain as the last bilateral series played between India and Pakistan.
The 2008 Mumbai terror attacks on 26-29 November 2008 by Pakistan based terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba caused a major blow to the diplomatic and cricketing ties between India and Pakistan. It led to the suspension of India's planned tour of Pakistan in 2009 and all future engagements in Pakistan. Since then, India has refused to play any form of series against Pakistan, only exception being Asia Cup and ICC events. Furthermore, Pakistani players were excluded from the Indian Premier League, following which their contracts were terminated, with the inaugural season being the only one where they participated.
The 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket team in Lahore led to the suspension of international tours of Pakistan, with no Test series played in the country for a decade and Pakistan was removed as a co-host for the 2011 Cricket World Cup which had been due to be played across the Indian subcontinent. India and Pakistan qualified for the first semi-final of the tournament and the Indian government invited the Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to watch the match along with his Indian counterpart, Manmohan Singh.
Bilateral ties finally resumed when the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) invited the Pakistan national team to tour India for three ODIs and two T20Is in December 2012. In June 2014, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced that an agreement to play six bilateral series across eight years between the two teams had reached. After lengthy negotiations involving offers and counter-offers on the venues and scheduling of the first of these series in December 2015, the boards were unable to reach an agreement. In May 2017, the BCCI accounted that it would need approval from the Indian government before a bilateral series could go ahead. There was no further progress, despite members of both boards meeting in Dubai to discuss the matter.
In October 2021, during the T20 World Cup, the teams played their 200th international match against each other. Pakistan won the fixture by ten wickets, their first in 13 attempts against India in World Cup tournaments of either format.
In October 2021, following a meeting with the ACC, Ramiz Raja confirmed that Pakistan would host the Asia Cup in 2023, with Sri Lanka hosting the 2022 edition. In October 2022, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary and ACC President Jay Shah announced that India would not travel to Pakistan, citing security concerns, and that the Asia Cup 2023 would take place in a neutral venue. In December 2022, the then PCB chairman Ramiz Raja said that Pakistan might consider pulling out of the tournament if their hosting rights were withdrawn because of India's unwillingness to travel to Pakistan. The PCB had threatened to boycott the 2023 Cricket World Cup in India after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) refused to send a team to the Asia Cup. This issue was later resolved, and Pakistan eventually participated in the 2023 Cricket World Cup in India.
In January 2023, ACC confirmed the teams and groups of the Asia Cup, with both India and Pakistan taking part. In March 2023, it was proposed that Pakistan remain as hosts and that all India matches - including at least two India-Pakistan contests - would be played at a neutral venue yet to be confirmed. The hybrid model proposed by Pakistan was rejected by Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. In response, PCB Chairman Najam Sethi proposed two options. The first option was that India play all their matches at a neutral venue with Pakistan hosting the rest of the teams. The second option was that four matches in the group stage take place in Pakistan whereas the second phase, in which matches played by the Indian team followed by the next stage matches including the final, be played at a neutral venue. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh agreed to the second option. On 15 June 2023, the Asian Cricket Council announced that the tournament would be organized in a hybrid model with four matches being held in Pakistan, and the remaining nine in Sri Lanka.
India and Pakistan met twice in the 2023 Asia Cup. Though the first match in the Group stage yielded a no result due to rain, India defeated Pakistan by an enormous margin in the Super Four clash between the 2 teams, scoring 356 for the loss of only 2 wickets. India in this match not only set their highest-ever score in ODI cricket against Pakistan, but also defeated them with the highest ever run margin of 228 runs, bundling Pakistan out for 128. India would eventually go on to win this Asia Cup, while Pakistan would be knocked out in the super-fours round. India won the match against Pakistan at the 2024 Men's T20 World Cup by 6 runs, which was also the first ICC tournament to be held in United States of America. Then in 2025, India again defeated Pakistan; this time in the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy by 6 wickets with Virat Kohli scoring his 51st century in ODI cricket.
The 2025 Asia Cup was a heavily tense situation for both teams, mostly due to the Pahalgam terror attack by Pakistan based terror group The Resistance Front and the military conflict in the aftermath of the attack. Before the tournament, there were calls for boycott, but eventually the Government of India gave a go-ahead. During the group stage, the Indian team led by Suryakumar Yadav refused to shake hands after defeating Pakistan, with Yadav dedicating the victory to the victims of Pahalgam attack and Indian Army. In the super four stage, Pakistani cricketers Haris Rauf and Sahibzada Farhan made insensitive gestures in the match: while Rauf made a "jet crashing" gesture and a "6-0" finger sign, interpreted by media as a symbolic reference to Pakistan's claim of shooting down six Indian aircraft during Operation Sindoor, Farhan celebrated his half-century by mimicking firing a rifle with his bat. Yadav and Rauf were fined 30% of their match fees, while Farhan received a warning. Following the final, in which India defeated Pakistan again, a major controversy erupted as the Indian team refused to accept the winning trophy from ACC president Mohsin Naqvi, who also serves as Pakistan's Interior Minister and Chairman of the PCB, and this led to a delay in handing out other awards. Yadav later said the team had been "denied" the opportunity to lift the trophy and criticized the handling of the ceremony. Naqvi handed the trophy to the UAE cricket authorities when the BCCI threatened to impeach him from the ACC presidentship for misconduct.
Following the men's Asia Cup victory, the BCCI asked the women's team to avoid shaking hands with the Pakistani women's team during the 2025 Women's Cricket World Cup.
During the 2026 Men's T20 World Cup, the Pakistani team was reportedly asked by their Government not to play the initial group stage match with India, citing the ICC's refusal to relocate Bangladesh's matches out of India to Sri Lanka, due to the removal of Mustafizur Rahman from the 2026 Indian Premier League. However, the ICC warned the PCB of possible sanctions for a potential boycott of the match against India, and eventually went ahead. During the coin toss, there was no handshake between the Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav and the Pakistani captain Salman Ali Agha, which was also followed after India had defeated Pakistan.
The two teams have played a total of 212 matches, with Pakistan winning 88 matches and India winning 81. In Tests and ODIs, Pakistan has been victorious in more games than India. Meanwhile, India has won 14 of the 17 T20Is between the two teams.
In ICC Cricket World Cups, India and Pakistan have played each other in eight matches, with India maintaining an unbeaten 8-0 record. In the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup, India and Pakistan met in the semi-finals, the only time in the tournament history, and it was India who won the knockout game by 29 runs. Their last meeting was during the 2023 Cricket World Cup group stage match in Ahmedabad, where India defeated Pakistan by 7 wickets to continue their unbeaten run.
In ICC T20 World Cups, the two teams have played nine times, with the head to head record standing at 8-1 in India's favour. In 2007, India and Pakistan met each other in the inaugural 2007 ICC T20 World Cup Final, in which India defeated Pakistan by 5 runs. This was the first time the two teams met in a global ICC final. In 2021 ICC T20 World Cup, Pakistan finally registered its first ever win against India in T20 World Cups.
In ICC Champions Trophy, Pakistan and India have a 3-3 record in head to head meetings, with Pakistan winning a famous match, the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy Final, in which Pakistan defeated India by 180 runs. The margin of victory was the largest in any ICC ODI tournament final in terms of runs.
The two teams currently do not play test matches against each other and therefore have not met in the World Test Championship yet.
The two teams have met on 21 occasions in the Asia Cup across both ODI and T20I formats. India has won 13 of these Asia Cup meetings, compared to Pakistan's six wins, with two matches finishing as no result due to rain. There was also an Asian Test Championship match between the two teams which Pakistan won. Most notably, in the 2025 Asia Cup both teams met three times, including in an Asia Cup final for the first time. However, it was India who was victorious over Pakistan on all three occasions of the 2025 Asia Cup, including the 2025 Asia Cup final, in which India defeated Pakistan by 5 wickets.
The two countries have played in ODI and T20 World Cups, in Champions Trophy, and in World Test Championship, all of which are organised by the governing body of world cricket, the International Cricket Council (ICC).
In terms of ICC titles, India has won the ICC Cricket World Cup twice, while Pakistan has done so once. India has won the ICC Men's T20 World Cup thrice, with the first edition of the tournament in 2007 featuring a final between the two teams, which India won. India has also won the ICC Champions Trophy thrice, while Pakistan won the 2017 edition, defeating India in the final. Neither team has won the World Test Championship, although India finished as runners-up in the first two editions.
An overview of the teams' performances in every World Cup is given below. For each tournament, the number of teams in each finals tournament (in brackets) are shown.
Legend
Asian Cricket Council (ACC) governs the Asian cricket tournaments, particularly the Asia Cup. There have been 17 editions of the continental tournament so far. India has been the most successful team winning 9 Asia Cups, while Pakistan has won 2 Asia Cups, along with an Asian Test Championship. In the 2025 Asia Cup, India and Pakistan met in an Asia Cup final for the first time in the tournament history. However, it was India who completed a thrilling victory over Pakistan in the final to win their 9th Asia Cup title.
Fifteen Test series have been played between the two teams, as well as a one-off Test in Asian Test Championship. Eight of the series have been hosted by India, while seven have been hosted by Pakistan.
In terms of Test series won, both India and Pakistan have won four series each. This includes both teams winning one away series, with Pakistan famously winning 1-0 in India in 1987 and India famously winning 2-1 in Pakistan in 2004. Overall, Pakistan has won more Test matches than India head to head.
The two teams have played a total of 16 ODI series. Five of these have been played in India, while Pakistan has hosted seven series. Four series have been played in neutral venues, including three in Canada from 1996 to 1998 and one in the United Arab Emirates. Pakistan has won nine of the series, while India has won five. Meanwhile, the 1984-85 ODI series was abandoned during the 2nd match (due to assassination of Indira Gandhi). On the other hand, the 2005-06 series held in the UAE was the only series to be drawn.
The teams have only played one T20I series, a two match series played in 2012 as part of Pakistan's tour of India. Each team won one match, leaving the series drawn.
Javed Miandad scored 2,228 runs in 28 matches at an average of 67.51, making him the highest run-scorer in India vs. Pakistan Tests. Sunil Gavaskar follows with 2,089 runs in 24 matches at an average of 52.22. Kapil Dev leads the wicket charts with 99 wickets in 29 matches at an average of 28.50, while Imran Khan is close behind with 94 wickets in 23 matches at an average of 24.12. Both Miandad and Gavaskar scored five centuries each, while Imran Khan recorded seven five-wicket hauls compared to Kapil DevâÂÂs four.
Sachin Tendulkar, with 2,526 runs in 69 matches, is the highest run-scorer in India vs. Pakistan ODIs. This includes five centuries and 16 fifties, with a highest score of 141. Inzamam-ul-Haq follows closely with 2,403 runs in 67 matches, averaging 43.69, with four centuries and 12 fifties, and a highest score of 123. Wasim Akram leads the wicket charts with 60 wickets in 48 matches at an average of 25.15 and an economy rate of 3.73, with his best bowling figures being 4/35. Saqlain Mushtaq is just behind him with 57 wickets in 36 matches, averaging 24.38, with an economy rate of 4.52, and his best bowling performance being 5/45.
The two teams have played each other seventeen times in Twenty20 Internationals (T20I). Nine of these matches have taken place in T20 World Cups, including their meeting in the final of the 2007 T20 World Cup, and six matches in Asia Cups, including the final of the 2025 Asia Cup. Also, there was a two-match T20I series played in India in 2012.
The highest team score in a T20I between the two teams is India's 192/5 made in Ahmedabad in 2012. Pakistan's highest score against India in T20Is is 182/5 made during the 2022 Asia Cup. The lowest score between the two teams is Pakistan's 83 all out made in Dhaka during the 2016 Asia Cup.
The highest individual score in a T20I between the two teams is Virat Kohli's 82 not out made in October 2022 during the 2022 T20 World Cup. India's Virat Kohli holds the record for the most runs scored overall in matches between the two teams with 492 runs in 11 innings.
The best bowling performance in matches between the teams is the 4/18 taken by Mohammad Asif during the group stage meeting at the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa. India's best bowling performance is the 4/30 taken by Kuldeep Yadav during the 2025 Asia Cup final. Moreover, India's Hardik Pandya has taken the most wickets in matches between the teams, with 17 wickets in 9 innings.
Virat Kohli is the highest run-scorer in India vs. Pakistan T20Is, with 492 runs in 11 innings at an impressive average of 70.28, including five half-centuries and a highest score of 82*. Mohammad Rizwan follows with 228 runs in 5 innings at an average of 57.00, with two half-centuries and a highest score of 79*. Hardik Pandya is the leading wicket-taker, claiming 17 wickets in 9 innings at a remarkable average of 13.82, with best bowling figures of 3/8.
Prior to the Partition of India in 1947 India had played cricket, having first played as an international team in 1932. Following Partition, Pakistan was created and began playing as an independent nation, making their Test match debut in 1952 during a tour of India.
Three players played for Pakistan after appearing for India. They are:
After Partition, Gul Mohammad continued to play for India until 1955 and played against Pakistan in their first tour of India in 1951âÂÂ52. Both Amir Elahi and Abdul Hafeez Kardar played for Pakistan on the tour. Abdul Hafeez Kardar went on to play for Pakistan against India during India's first tour of Pakistan in 1954âÂÂ55.
Cricket is a significant sport within both countries and matches involving them can provoke what has been described as "a strong response".
In the Indian cricket team in Pakistan in the 1989âÂÂ90 series, the 3rd ODI at Karachi was abandoned due to crowd disturbance. When Pakistan lost 3 wickets at the score of 28, stone pelting started against Indian fielders. Indian fielders gathered near the pitch. Local cricketer Javed Miandad was unable to calm the crowd and the match was abandoned. Chandu Borde said that in the same match, Mohammad Azharuddin was hit with a metal hook. Sanjay Manjrekar wrote in his book, in the first ODI, that Indian captain Krishnamachari Srikkanth's shirt was torn by a Pakistani spectator.
There have been examples where fans of the opposing team have experienced legal action: in 2016, a 22-year-old Pakistani fan of Indian captain Virat Kohli, was arrested and later sentenced to 10-years imprisonment for hoisting India's flag in Pakistan after a match between India and Australia.
In the city of Leicester in the United Kingdom, tensions between the Indian Hindu and Pakistan Muslim community broke out into violence and a series of protests following the 2022 Asia Cup match between Pakistan and India on 28 August.
Following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and Soviet pressure on India to deflect the tension they faced, in February 1987 Pakistan's president at the time, General Zia ul-Haq, attended a test match between India and Pakistan in Jaipur â a visit that apparently helped cool a flare-up in tensions since it led to a meeting with the Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi. Furthermore, in 2004 after a break of fifteen years, India toured Pakistan in the wake of diplomatic initiatives to bury half a century of mutual hostility. Both teams relaxed their tough visa regulations for each other, allowing thousands of fans to travel across the border.
In an attempt to replicate the cricket diplomacy of the past General Pervez Musharraf came to India in 2005 ostensibly for a cricket match. The trip, however, quickly took on the air of a summit as the teams were urged "to seize a historic chance to end their dispute over Kashmir." Often this rivalry has been tinged with a religious-political bent to it. In 1991, the workers of the Indian political party Shiv Sena dug up the cricket pitch at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on the eve of an India-Pakistan Test match which was to be held there, forcing the entire series between the two nations to be cancelled. The Shiv Sena once again used this unique means of protest at the Feroz Shah Kotla in New Delhi in 2000 to protest against the Pakistan cricket team's proposed visit. Following the Kargil conflict, and at various other times, there have also been calls to suspend cricketing ties between the two countries.
During the 2011 Cricket World Cup, the semi-final is believed to have eased the relationship between India and Pakistan after the polarising 2008 Mumbai attacks. Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh used this opportunity and greeted his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani to watch the match with him at Mohali. Gilani subsequently accepted the offer and agreed to watch the match with Singh.
The cricket rivalry between India and Pakistan had been portrayed in the popular Netflix series . The series features interviews with Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly, Sunil Gavaskar, Shoaib Akhtar, Waqar Younis, and Javed Miandad, among others, as well as the India's tour of Pakistan in 2004, and the first season of Indian Premier League.