IND vs PAK 2022: 5 biggest fights during an India vs Pakistan cricket match

The India vs Pakistan cricket rivalry is among the biggest rivalries in sports history. Over the years, cricket matches between India and Pakistan have entertained millions of fans across the world.

Fans always enjoy watching intense action between the two arch-rivals on the field. Of late, the Indian and Pakistani cricketers have not had any fights during the match. In fact, the players have greeted each other warmly and look like good friends off the field.

However, there was a time when the atmosphere during an India vs Pakistan match was heated up by the fights between the players. Ahead of the upcoming India vs Pakistan match in the Asia Cup 2022, here's a list of the top five biggest fights in the history of this epic rivalry.

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#1 Gautam Gambhir vs Shahid Afridi, 2007

India and Pakistan have not played a bilateral series since 2012, but before that, the two nations would play against each other regularly.

In 2007, Pakistan visited India for a five-match ODI series. During the third game in Kanpur, Gautam Gambhir had a heated exchange with Shahid Afridi. Gambhir hit Afridi for a boundary in the 20th over and looked him in the eye.

On the next ball, Gambhir ran a single but hit Afridi on the way. The two players started arguing with each other before the umpire cooled things down.

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#2 Aamer Sohail vs Venkatesh Prasad, 1996

India and Pakistan faced off in the 1996 World Cup quarter-final match. The Men in Blue set a massive target of 288 runs for their arch-rivals in that contest. Pakistan got off to a flying start and were 113/1 in the 15th over.

In that over, Indian pacer Venkatesh Prasad had an epic face-off with Pakistan's Aamer Sohail. The Pakistani batter was in great touch as he completed his fifty at a strike rate of more than 100.

Soon after, Sohail pointed towards the off-side and told Prasad that he would hit him for a boundary there. However, on the next ball, Prasad rattled his stumps and gave him a send-off that no India vs Pakistan cricket fan can ever forget.

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#3 Harbhajan Singh vs Shoaib Akhtar, 2010

India battled Pakistan in the fourth match of the 2010 Asia Cup. The Men in Green batted first to post 267 runs on the board. Chasing 268 for a win, India were down to 219/6 after 45.1 overs.

Harbhajan Singh joined Suresh Raina in the middle when the Men in Blue needed 49 off 29 balls. Singh and Raina brought the equation down to 16 off 12 balls.

Shoaib Akhtar came in to bowl the penultimate over and got hit for a six on the first ball. He made a decent comeback and conceded only three runs in the next five deliveries.

Akhtar then had an exchange of words with Singh as the latter missed a short delivery from him on the final ball of the over. But Harbhajan gave it back to him in the final over by smashing the winning six off Mohammad Amir's bowling.

Harbhajan and Akhtar also had a brief altercation after that India vs Pakistan match ended.

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#4 Kiran More vs Javed Miandad, 1992

During the 1992 World Cup match between India and Pakistan, Javed Miandad was not impressed with the way Indian wicket-keeper Kiran More kept chirping from behind the stumps.

Miandad was so annoyed that he asked the bowler to stop. He then went back behind the stumps to listen to what More had to say.

In the same India vs Pakistan match, Miandad also jumped and responded to one of the comments from More.

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#5 Gautam Gambhir vs Kamran Akmal, 2010

Another incident from the 2010 Asia Cup India vs Pakistan match to feature on this list is the fight between Gautam Gambhir and Kamran Akmal. Gambhir won the Man of the Match award in that game for his match-winning half-century.

However, during his innings, wicket-keeper Akmal tried to break his concentration by appealing for caught behind dismissals repeatedly even though Gambhir had not nicked the ball. During the drinks break, Gambhir had a heated war of words with Akmal, forcing umpires and other players to intervene.