5 epic India vs Pakistan encounters in the Asia Cup 

#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)