Dubai: India and Pakistan renewed their high-profile but one-sided cricket rivalry on Sunday in a T20 World Cup blockbuster watched by hundreds of millions of fans across the globe.
Virat Kohli’s India have beaten Pakistan in all of their 12 matches at the T20 and 50-over World Cups.
Pakistan, however, went into the contest with 10 wins in a row in the United Arab Emirates, their home away from home for most of the last decade.
It was the first time the two nations had clashed since the 50-over World Cup in 2019.
Of the 12 World Cup losses for Pakistan, five have been at the T20 tournament.
Two were at the inaugural event in 2007 — a tied group game decided by a ‘bowl-out’ and a five-run loss in the final.
“To be honest, what has passed is beyond us, ” said Pakistan captain Babar Azam on Saturday. “Records are meant to be broken.”
His team got the dream start with Shaheen Shah Afridi dismissing Rohit Sharma first ball.
Tickets for Sunday’s contest — where the stadium crowd numbered around 20, 000 — were sold out just hours after they went online and many private online channels were offering resale of the entry passes at inflated prices.
Some resale tickets were being advertised for $250 with $6, 000 for corporate boxes.
The South Asian nuclear rivals have only played in multi-national events like World Cups and the Champions Trophy as strained relations have stalled bilateral cricket since 2007.
Pakistan did tour India in 2012 for five limited-over matches but ties were not fully resumed as the two nations continued to be at loggerheads over multiple issues, with the disputed region of Kashmir and terrorism heading the list.