India-Pakistan games evoke a sense of passion that few rivalries can match. Players from both teams find that extra bit of zeal to perform against each other. Individual performances are remembered for a long time. Fakhar Zaman and Shaheen Shah Afridi are worthy examples of this. They shot to overnight stardom with their performance against India in crucial ICC tournaments.
India too has unearthed many icons when they turned up against their arch-rivals. But the talking point from an Indian perspective has always been certain cameos. These knocks literally knocked off the sailing from Pakistan’s wind.
We look at 3 such Indian cameos that stunned Pakistan:
#3 Hardik Pandya, Asia Cup 2022
India was staring down the barrel needing 51 off the final five overs chasing an under-par score. But Hardik Pandya turned up the heat in the crucial stages of the game. He hit some audacious strokes off some difficult back-of-a-length bowling.
India needed 6 runs off 3 balls. The whole contingent was tense. But Pandya’s presence was reassuring. He smashed the fourth ball of the final over for a flat six to help India romp home. Cricket fans and experts believe he is the world’s leading T20I all-rounder.
#2 Rohit Sharma, T20 World Cup final 2007
In the annals of the Indian team’s historic inaugural World Cup win, this performance has largely gone unnoticed. Rohit Sharma’s knock in the T20 World Cup final in 2007 against Pakistan remains one of the most crucial cameos ever. India after a decent start looked to be stuttering.
They seemed to be heading for a total of around 140. But it was Rohit Sharma’s crucial knock of 30 (16 balls) that took India past 150. India ended up with a par score of 157. His six in the final over proved to be the ultimate difference between the two sides.
#1 Ajay Jadeja, 1996 World Cup quarterfinal
In what remains one of the most stunning assaults of all time, Ajay Jadeja’s 25 balls-45 captured the imagination of the whole nation. Against a star-studded Pakistani bowling lineup, Ajay Jadeja played his best knock. He clobbered arguably the best ODI bowler of his generation, Waqar Younis, to all parts of the ground. Jadeja’s cameo pushed India’s total to a position of absolute strength. It remains a seminal moment in the India-Pakistan rivalry.
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