From Shaheen Afridi To Virat Kohli: Five Memorable India-Pakistan T20s

Arch-rivals India and Pakistan will clash at the T20 World Cup in New York on Sunday for the 13th time in cricket's shortest format. The two nuclear-armed nations only face each other in international tournaments due to political tensions and last met in a 2022 T20 World Cup encounter in Melbourne, when India won. The tally in their T20 encounters so far stands in India's favour with nine wins to three -- but the honours are even in their last four matches. 

Let's look back at five memorable India-Pakistan T20 matches:

Wily Dhoni

India and Pakistan's first T20 encounter at Durban in 2007 ended in a dramatic tie before being decided in a bowl-out -- cricket's equivalent of football's penalty shoot-out.

Pakistan elected to field in the group match in the inaugural T20 World Cup and restricted India to 141-9.

With the scores level at the end of Pakistan's reply India skipper MS Dhoni then outfoxed the opposition by choosing non-specialists to try to hit the wicket, rather than regular bowlers used to tempting batsmen to offer catches.

Part-time bowlers Virender Sehwag, Robin Uthappa and premier spinner Harbhajan Singh all hit the stumps, while Pakistan's top-line pacemen Yasir Arafat and Umar Gul, and spinner Shahid Afridi all missed.

It is the only time a World Cup match has been decided by a bowl-out, with the tiebreaker now replaced by a super over. 

Misbah misfires

After meeting in the group stage of that inaugural World Cup in 2007, the two rivals went on to face each other again 10 days later in the final in Johannesburg, the only time they have contested a final.

Set 158 for victory, Pakistan lost wickets regularly but Misbah-ul-Haq kept the target in sight with his gritty batting.

Pakistan reached the final over