Online Desk: India and Pakistan are set to face each other in Match no-12 of the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Saturday. The match is set to be marked with light shows and performances from Bollywood celebrities at the stadium, despite the World Cup having already started a week ago with no opening ceremony. Even when seen just from the aforementioned sporting point of view though, this is an interesting match-up. Both India and Pakistan have got off to good starts in the tournament. India fought back from a disastrous start in their chase against Australia to eventually win the game comfortably and then captain Rohit Sharma smashed Afghanistan out of the park, helping his team chase down a target of 272 with a whopping 15 overs to spare.

Pakistan, meanwhile, cruised past the Netherlands and Sri Lanka despite the fact that they had to break their own record for the highest successful chase in the latter game. While India’s biggest stars have all fired at some point or the other, Pakistan are yet to see anything significant from captain Babar Azam, pace spearhead Shaheen Afridi and primary spinner Shadab Khan. Where they have made up for that is the ridiculous form that Mohammad Rizwan has struck and the bowling performances of the Hasan Ali and Haris Rauf.

The head-to-head stats:

Since they first faced each other in a test match that was played in Delhi starting on October 16, 1952, India and Pakistan have faced each other 204 times in international cricket. Pakistan won 88 matches while India have 73 victories to their name.

In ODI cricket, which is the format in which the two teams are set to face on Saturday, Pakistan have historically led the head-to-head records, although India were dominant in the previous decade. In the 14 matches that the two sides played between 2010 and 2020, India won 10. The two sides have faced each other 134 times in ODIs with Pakistan winning 73 and India winning 56. In 17 bilateral ODI series that were played until 2013, Pakistan won 11 while India won just five.

In T20I matches, India are the runaway leaders. They have won nine out of 12 matches, which includes the game which India had won via a bowl-out in the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007. Of the 58 Test matches that two teams have played against each other, a whopping 38 have been drawn. Pakistan won 11 while India won nine. The series head-to-head is tied at 4-4 between the two sides while seven were drawn.

In matches between the two teams as part of ICC tournaments, India have famously never lost an ODI World Cup match against Pakistan. They have won all seven matches between the two sides in the marquee tournament thus far. The same used to be the case in T20 World Cups too until 2021, where the sixth match between the two teams in the history of this tournament ended in a 10-wicket victory for Pakistan. India lead the T20 World Cup head to head 6-1, which includes the tied match in the 2007 T20 World Cup that was decided in India’s favour via a bowl-out. In the Champions Trophy, meanwhile, India and Pakistan have faced each other five times. Pakistan lead the head-to-head record 3-2.

Squads:

India:

Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (wk), Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Shubman Gill, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Suryakumar Yadav.

Pakistan:

Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Agha Salman, Fakhar Zaman, Usama Mir, Mohammad Wasim Jr.