In the 2025 Asia Cup, India and Pakistan will clash in a men’s cricket tournament final for the 13th time. Of the 12 competitions featuring an India-Pakistan final, five have involved five or more teams.
World Championship of Cricket, Melbourne, 1985
India won by 8 wickets with 17 balls to spare
The tournament marked the 150th anniversary of European Settlement in Victoria. It featured seven teams, making it the largest men’s ODI tournament outside World Cups and Champions Trophy, which gave it a World Cup feeling. Not only did India win every match en route to the final but they also bowled out the opposition every single time.
Racist banners on the lines of “World Cup final – tram conductors vs bus drivers” could not dampen the spirit of the game. Despite Kapil Dev’s efforts, the Pakistan last wicket pair of Wasim Raja and Azeem Hafeez held firm for 28 minutes to end India’s streak. But after Srikkanth’s 77-ball 67, chasing 177 was never going to be a challenge. Ravi Shastri won an Audi for being the Champion of Champions (the Player of the Tournament).
Sadanand Viswanath’s lightning-fast stumping of Javed Miandad off Laxman Sivaramakrishnan became a talked-about moment of this game. Miandad would have his way a year and a bit later...
Austral-Asia Cup, Sharjah, 1986
Pakistan won by 1 wicket with 0 balls to spare
... in Sharjah. The Indian total of 245-7 (Srikkanth, Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar all got fifties) was reasonable by the 1980s standards, especially after India had Pakistan at 110-4. But Imran Khan promoted Abdul Qadir to up the tempo, and Qadir’s 39-ball 34 kept Pakistan in the chase.
Then, as the Indian bowlers kept striking, Miandad stood firm in characteristic style, sprinting for ones and twos, farming the strike, picking up the boundary. Kapil Dev asked Chetan Sharma to defend 11 in the last over.
Miandad swished at the first ball from outside the off stump, but an excellent throw found Wasim Akram short at the non-striker’s end. He smashed the next ball past wide long-on for four. He swept the third ball, but Roger Binny’s dive at fine leg kept it to a single. Chetan then clean bowled Zulqarnain. No.11 Tauseef Ahmed set off for a suicidal single, but Mohammad Azharuddin, of all people, missed. With Miandad on strike, Pakistan needed four off the last ball.
Chetan did the right thing by going for the yorker, but the execution did not quite match the plan. The full toss was in the “zone” of Miandad, who could clear mid-wicket even in his sleep. He did.
Until that day, India had beaten Pakistan eight times in ODIs and lost seven including a 6-2 record in the last eight games. Starting with that day, Pakistan flipped the result around to 22-5 until Miandad bowed out. Of course, correlation does not necessarily imply causation...
Austral-Asia Cup, Sharjah, 1994
Pakistan won by 39 runs
Perhaps the least talked-about of the five finals. Pakistan evoked memories of the 1986 game by piling 250-6, thanks to a 96-run opening stand between Saeed Anwar and Aamer Sohail, followed by Basit Ali’s 58-ball 57 as Javagal Srinath and Rajesh Chauhan snared three wickets apiece. Wasim then struck in the first over and, despite a 59-run stand between Sachin Tendulkar and Navjot Sidhu, India were left reeling at 83-4.
The left-handed duo of Vinod Kambli, fresh off his famous onslaught against Shane Warne in the semi-final, and Atul Bedade, kept Indian hopes alive. Bedade had his most famous moment under the sun – he hit four sixes – but India capitulated once the 80-run partnership ended.
World Twenty20 (later T20 World Cup), Johannesburg, 2007
India won by 5 runs
The BCCI had initially showed little interest in the format that would become instrumental in making them the global powerhouse of cricket. “T20? Why not Ten10 or Five5 or One1? India will never play T20,” assured BCCI honorary secretary Niranjan Shah. When they eventually sent a team, it was under a young captain, MS Dhoni, without big names like Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, or Rahul Dravid. Throughout the tournament, Shastri would refer to the tournament as “World TT” on air. However, during the early stages of the competition, the BCCI launched their own T20 league, the IPL.
But India not only played but reached the final. There, they were pitted against Pakistan, whom they had already beaten in a bowlout. In front of a cheering Wanderers, India rode on Gautam Gambhir’s 54-ball 75 to post 157-5. Pakistan seemed to lose their way – they needed 47 in 20 balls – but Misbah-ul-Haq and Sohail Tanvir smashed two sixes each to bring down the target. With 13 to defend in the last over, Dhoni backed Joginder Sharma (3-0-13-2 until that point) over Harbhajan Singh (3-0-36-0).
Joginder began with a wide but followed with a dot. Misbah lofted the next ball straight down the ground for six. Off the next, he tried to clear fine-leg – the field was up – but could not time it. Shastri’s booming voice confirmed the ball’s descent to Sreesanth’s hands at fine-leg and India’s triumph.
ICC Champions Trophy, The Oval, 2017
Pakistan won by 180 runs
Having barely qualified for the Champions Trophy, Pakistan had been thrashed by India in the league stage. But they turned things around, fielded three debutants (Fakhar Zaman, Faheem Ashraf, Rumman Raees), and gate-crashed into the final.
Jasprit Bumrah dismissed Fakhar early, but the decision was overturned once the replays showed he had overstepped. Taking full advantage, Fakhar hit a 106-ball 114, adding 128 for the opening stand with Azhar Ali before Mohammad Hafeez slammed a 37-ball 57 not out to take Pakistan to 338-4.
Mohammad Amir’s (3-16) exceptional opening spell then reduced India to 72-6. Hardik Pandya (76 in 43) kindled some hopes, but they were extinguished once he was run out. India crashed to 158. It remains Pakistan’s last major trophy and – at the time of writing – the last India-Pakistan final.
