5 epic India vs Pakistan encounters in the Asia Cup 

India-Pakistan matches are perennially awaited having offered years of mouth-watering clashes which often set our pulse racing. They are often regarded as epoch-making events in the history books of cricket. The Asia Cup is a tournament where neighbours battle with all their might for sub-continent supremacy and possession of the bragging rights till the subsequent tournament.

With the 2018 Asia Cup edition in the UAE promising a potential three clashes between the neighbouring nations, let us anticipate by taking a glance at 5 of the most gut-wrenching India vs Pakistan showdowns from a few previous editions.

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#5 Asia Cup 2008, Group stage, Karachi

Playing in front of their home crowd, the Pakistan batsmen did not disappoint in any way and put up a stellar display led by an impressive 125* from captain Shoaib Malik before retiring hurt. He was assisted by Younis Khan, Mohammed Yousuf and Misbah-Ul-Haq, all of them scoring at a healthy strike rate and making use of the middle overs to build partnerships to guide the Pakistan innings to a respectable 299/4. The Indian pace trio of Praveen Kumar, RP Singh and Ishant Sharma shared just 1 wicket between them without being too economical either.

Malik got back onto the field during the Indian innings, but their strike bowler Umar Gul had to be walked off owing to an injury near the rib cage. Despite getting an in-form Gautam Gambhir out early, the Pakistan bowlers faced their nemesis in the form of Virender Sehwag who hit 12 boundaries and five sixes for his 119 off 95 balls.

He was in full flow that evening and hit the dangerous Shahid Afridi for two consecutive huge sixes. Straight out of a brilliant IPL season, Suresh Raina was sent in at no.3 and he too joined the party with his flurry of boundaries including a six off Rao Iftikhar over extra cover evident of his hitting prowess.

As none of the part time bowlers showed any sting, India crossed 250 within 35 overs and the despite getting Sehwag out the Pakistan bowling was tamed by Yuvraj's cameo of 48 and Captain Cool MSD as usual finished off with a six over long on as India won with 8 overs to spare. The game was one to remember as India-Pakistan fixtures in Pakistan would soon became a rarity in the international cricket calendar.

India topped Group B owing the result and hosts Pakistan did qualify for the super 4 as well.

Result: India won by 6 wickets.

Pakistan 299/4 in 50 overs, India 300/4 in 42.1 overs.

Man of the Match: Suresh Raina (84 runs off 69 balls; 4's- 10, 6's- 3)

#4 Asia Cup 2008, Super Fours match, Karachi

Just six days after their previous meeting, the South-Asian foes were once again pitted against each other at the same venue i.e. National Stadium in Karachi. India were pretty confident after getting the better of their opponents last time and having beaten Bangladesh in their first Super Fours game.

Pakistan, on the other hand, needed a win to survive and keep themselves in the Asia Cup 2008. In the first innings, it was a gritty batting display by the Indian batsmen out of whom MS Dhoni was the pick. He top scored with 76 out of 96 balls and his partnership with Rohit Sharma (58 off 71) helped India get to 308 amidst regular strikes by the Pakistan bowlers who were successful in preventing any imminent damage by the likes of Sehwag and Yuvraj who got off to decent starts.

Misbah-ul-Haq was captaining Pakistan for the first time in this match and showed all signs of why he would become a respectable skipper of the side in future. He used 5 bowlers including debutante Saeed Ajmal and rotated them with a keen intent to break partnerships and hamper the flow of runs.

Abdur Rauf and Rao Iftikhar were able to fetch wickets when needed and despite MS Dhoni looking good at the crease, the Pakistan attack prevented the flurry of runs that cropped up the last time these teams met. Pakistan started their innings with the openers Salman Butt and Nasir Jamshed treating the Indian pacers with no mercy and smashing boundaries of any deliveries that were loose or wayward.

Jamshed had to walk off the field after a muscle cramp and Salman Butt ran himself out in rash manner, but the stage was taken over by Younis Khan who played a match winning innings of 123. The Pakistani batting great proved to a thorn in the flesh of the Indian bowlers and his controlled batting display did not let the spinners get any easy giveaways. He remained not out and was ably assisted by captain Misbah who scored a scintillating 70 to chase the target in a span of 45.3 overs.

The crowd was triumphant as they were treated to an exquisite display by the home team over their arch rivals and it also opened up the race to the final in a tournament that was producing less than exciting encounters until then. Even though none of the two teams went on to win the tournament, they were hugely successful in adding one to the list of the clashes termed as the 'Mother of all battles'.

Result: Pakistan won by 8 wickets.

India 308/7 in 50 overs, Pakistan 309/2 in 45.3 overs.

Man of the Match: Younis Khan (123 runs off 117 balls; 4's- 11, 6's- 1)

#3 Asia Cup 2012, Group Stage, Dhaka

The game which is often cited as the one where 'an Indian legend played his last game and another righteously stated his will to be an Indian legend'. Pakistan appeared resilient throughout the tournament and had wins in both their previous group matches.

Defenders India did beat Sri Lanka in their opener but their loss to Bangladesh was overlooked thanks to Sachin Tendulkar's remarkable achievement of scoring his 100th century. Sachin had got all the plaudits and had his name against almost every batting record over the years, and he scored a 52 in this game which was his swansong.

Misbah-Ul-Haq won the toss and opted to bat and a devastating opening partnership of 224 between Nasir Jamshed (105) and Mohammad Hafeez (112) had the Indian bowlers bewildered and their shot selection and execution had the fielders scratching their heads.

The match prior to this involving these two countries was the ICC World Cup 2011 semi-final and the Indian bowling had no representative among them from that game in Mohali. The bowling did appear meek and it was some agile fielding that made Pakistan settle for 329/6 courtesy Younis Khan whose solidarity prevented a middle-order collapse and he himself collected 52 against his name.

India lost the wicket of Gautam Gambhir on a very sublime off-spin delivery by Mohammad Hafeez which was also the 2nd ball of the innings. A seasoned batting display the maestro Tendulkar and an authoritative 68 by Rohit Sharma provided India the resistance against a set of bowlers with the credentials of Wahab Riaz, Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal.

But the stand out performance of the encounter was the absolute master-class of Virat Kohli, who just dominated the night with his astounding 183. His genius was evident as he held the innings with his swift running-between-the-wickets and tenacious cuts and drives.

Post the 40th over when the asking rate starting to escalate, he switched gears and went into demolition mode getting 16 and 13 runs in consecutive overs. The end to the game was rather lopsided as Pakistan could not put up a shield against the wrath of Kohli's bat and he made the hefty chase look simple till he was at the crease.

This was Virat's second century in the tournament and the newly appointed vice-captain of the Indian team inflicted their only loss of the tournament to Pakistan. A game that should have gone down to the last ball was won with 13 balls and 6 wickets to spare as Dhoni smashed his trademark boundary-to-the-end-the-match.

Pakistan were eventual champions after clinching victory against an upbeat Bangladesh but on 18th March 2012, Virat Kohli just owned the stage and gave us a glimpse of what Indian cricket could expect from him even as their batting hero for the last 2 decades descended into the horizon.

Result: India won by 6 wickets.

Pakistan 329/6 in 50 overs, India 330/4 in 47.5 overs.

Man of the Match: Virat Kohli (183 runs off 69 balls; 4's- 22, 6's- 1)

#2 Asia Cup 2014, Group Stage, Dhaka

This one indeed had all the ingredients to be termed an Indo-Pak classic match starting from the tense situation of the tournament till the anti-climax at the end having the viewers get goosebumps and witness a nail-biting classic. The backdrop had both teams losing to Sri Lanka and had one out of two wins. A victory was vital to seal 2nd place in the group table as both had their last group games against weaker opposition, so both sets of playing 11 were going all guns blazing from the start.

India were without their talismanic captain Dhoni who was sitting out due to injury and had Virat Kohli leading them whose subdued sojourn did not live upto his previous Asia Cup outing against the same opponents. The lineup that had a decent ODI season the previous year could garner 245/8 in their innings with half-centuries from Rohit Sharma, Ambati Rayudu and Ravindra Jadeja.

Saeed Ajmal (3/40 in 10 overs) was the pick of the bowlers as he took advantage of the turning track and did not leak many runs to any batsmen apart from Jadeja who was brilliant towards the on-side smashing 4 fours and 2 sixes. The overall batting had a few minor flaws but managed a competitive total despite reeling at a score just above 100 after 4 wickets at 25 overs.

The Pakistani openers gave them a steady start as Ahmed Shehzad dealt in boundaries with the lacklustre Indian pacers Bhuvneshwar and Shami. The momentous start had paced Pakistan at 93/2 at the end of 15 overs and 'Professor' Mohammad Hafeez after containing the Indian batsmen while bowling did not allow the Indian spinners return him the favour.

His free-flowing innings along with a prolific 78-run partnership with Sohaib Maqsood, who survived a stumping chance, kept Pakistan steady before him mistiming a slog-sweep to Ashwin and getting caught at deep square leg. But the best was saved for the last and 'Boom Boom' Afridi showed resistance whilst witnessing a lower order collapse at the other end.

With 10 to get from the last over, Ashwin was entrusted with the ball and he bagged Ajmal with his first delivery. Junaid Khan sneaked a single to get Afridi on strike and Lala's 2 humongous sixes on the next 2 balls stole victory from the jaws of defeat. The sight was reminiscent of the last ball six that Javed Miandad hit off Chetan Sharma in 1986 and set Pakistani fans in reverberation.

India on the other had their hearts broken this time and were made to bow out of the tournament as they finished 3rd in the group stage. Mirpur had witnessed a match talked would be described with zeal and enthusiasm across generations.

Sri Lanka would claim their 5th Asia Cup title by beating Pakistan in the final, but Pakistan claimed that they were worthy winners of this thriller that stirred out various emotions among cricket lovers across the world.

Result: Pakistan won by 1 wicket.

India 245/8 in 50 overs, Pakistan 249/9 in 49.4 overs.

Man of the Match: Mohammad Hafeez (75 runs off 117 balls; 4's- 3, 6's- 2 and 2/38 of 9 overs)

#1 Asia Cup 2010, Group Stage, Dambulla

A tantalizing face-off that began as a cat and mouse chase between the two sets of players, ended with the eruption of a volcano of adrenaline and a heated exchange of 'in-your-face' moments throughout its course. Dambulla witnessed a game full of boisterous incidents involving an altercation between Gautam Gambhir and Kamran Akmal which almost manifested into a brawl followed by an intense Harbhajan-Shoaib Akhtar tussle at the end overs. The match as some might say, could very well have taken place in a boxing ring instead!

While batting first, every Pakistan batsman got off to a promising start, Salman Butt dominating with a standout 74 only to be run out at a time when Pakistan were showing signs of a 300+ score. Taking help from the wicket the Indian spinners Harbhajan and Jadeja pegged the batsmen with some highly potent display of spin in the middle overs. While Praveen Kumar's excellent display in the death overs prevented the likes of skipper Shahid Afridi and Kamran Akmal from taking matters beyond India's control. The ability to absorb the pressure helped the Indians get their opponents all out at a score of 267, which could have been much more challenging had Pakistan formed any big partnership.

The 2nd innings was indeed a very competitive display of disciplined bowling which turned into a hammer and tongs situation as the batsmen cut through the gaps with boundaries and also ran the 1's and 2's hard to accelerate the scoring rate. The inevitably strong Indian batting lineup heralded by Gambhir's 83 and valuable 50 from Dhoni got to over 200 in the 40th over. The latter also tried his best to cool down the former when he charged at keeper Akmal, who was excessively appealing, thus averting a volatile confrontation. As the encounter see-sawed its way to last 10 overs, the responsibility was on Raina to finish the game in favour of India.

Pakistan had inched forward as the spinners got crucial wickets of Dhoni and Jadeja, it was then the batting powerplay was taken as 50 were required off 36 balls. Shoaib Aktar who was breathing fire in his previous spell was handed over the ball and he tried to rub an already flared up Harbhajan Singh the wrong way in the penultimate over. They had a stormy exchange of words more than once during the match and the environment had became raucous even though it was a neutral venue. Mohammad Aamir, playing his first Asia Cup, was tasked to defend 7 runs off the last over which had Raina run out on the 2nd ball. Praveen Kumar played out a couple of deliveries and the equation was now 3 runs of 2 balls.

Harbhajan Singh heaved the penultimate ball for a six on the leg side and followed it up with a staggering celebration towards a sheepish Shoaib Akhtar and a instigated a stupendous reaction from the Indian dressing room as well as the spectators. India had bossed this enraging encounter against their sworn rivals for ages and also deservingly took home the trophy giving MSD another glorious trophy to add to his collection as India captain.

Result: India won by 3 wickets.

Pakistan 267 all out in 49.3 overs, India 271/7 in 49.5 overs

Man of the Match: Gautam Gambhir (83 runs off 97 balls; 4's- 6, 6's- 1)