War of the Titans. Contest of the Colossals. Duel of the Behemoths. India vs Pakistan. If there is any celebrated cricket rivalry where stakes soar higher, emotions get stronger, adversaries grow in strength side by side, and cricket is the winner, THIS IS IT.

13 World Cups, seven meetings. How did each IND vs PAK clash turn out? We got it covered here. Join us as we aim to use the memories of the Men in Blue’s yesteryear clashes to re-energize ourselves for the box-office fixture.

1: India vs Pakistan, March 4, 1992 (IND won by 43 runs)

The one where Sachin Tendulkar formally announced himself as a CWC legend in the making, with the first of his 15 half-tons in the tournament.

India batted first, and SRT’s unbeaten 54 off 62 balls catapulted the Men in Blue to 216/7 in 49 overs. And he wasn’t just done yet, as he registered match figures of 1/37 and joined the likes of Manoj Prabhakar (2/22), Kapil Dev (2/30) and Javagal Srinath (2/37) to dismantle the Pakistan batting order for 173 in 48.1 overs.

2: India vs Pakistan, March 9, 1996 (IND won by 39 runs)

There is a drama, and then there is this: Rivals turned co-hosts turned quarter-finalists.

India posted 287/8 in their first innings, with Navjot Singh Sidhu (93) and Ajay Jadeja (45) steadying the ship past the bowling onslaughts of Mushtaq Ahmed (2/56) and Waqar Younis (2/67). When it was our turn to bowl, Venkatesh Prasad (3/45) and Anil Kumble (3/48) cracked the whip on PAK’s batting and power IND to draw the curtains on their fierce rival’s title defence.

3: India vs Pakistan, June 8, 1999 (IND won by 47 runs)

Considering the tense relations between India and Pakistan off the field, it was an emotional victory.

Sachin’s 65-ball 45 was the starting dish for India’s batting performance. The main course, in turn, would be the determined half-centuries from Rahul Dravid (61) and skipper Mohammad Azharuddin (59) that propelled the Men in Blue to 227/5. Venkatesh Prasad (5/27) would take up the clean-up responsibility, as he got rid of the dangerous-looking Saeed Anwar (36), Inzamam-ul-Haq (41) and Moin Khan (34) at crucial points of a revival in their chase of 228. Javagal Srinath was the sidekick of Prasad in his ‘Executioner’ job with a haul of 3/37.

4: India vs Pakistan, March 1, 2003 (IND won by six wickets)

A Sachin Tendulkar blitzkrieg. IND vs PAK. Holi. Three momentous occasions on a SINGLE day that an ardent Indian cricket from the 2000s will never forget.

It started with Saeed Anwar’s century - the sole driving force behind Pakistan’s tally of 273/7 in a fixture where they won the toss against India for the first time in World Cup history. Zaheer Khan (2/46) and Ashish Nehra (2/74) proved they were ready to be India's new faces of pace bowling.

Chasing 274, India lost Virender Sehwag and Sourav Ganguly in successive deliveries by Waqar Younis in the sixth over. However, Sachin Tendulkar - with over 1,000 ODI runs against Pakistan ahead of the encounter - showed why he would be known as the GOD of cricket. 75 balls. 98 runs. Strike rate of 130.66 and THAT iconic maximum that SRT smashed off Shoaib Akhtar over point. His cameo laid the foundation for Yuvraj Singh (50*) and Rahul Dravid (44*) to wrap up the chase with six wickets in the bank and 26 balls to spare.

5: India vs Pakistan, March 30, 2011 (IND won by 29 runs)

The one where Sachin Tendulkar came, saw and conquered. A nearly three-hour stay at the crease included four dropped catches of his wicket before a controversial Saeed Ajmal delivery got him out for 85 off 115 balls. His innings pivoted India to 260/9.

Pakistan, on the other hand, had only Misbah-ul-Haq (56) play a knock over 50 runs as they were left disgruntled by the bowling prowess of the Indian unit - all bowlers (Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel, Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh) claimed two wickets each. The result? India reached a World Cup final for the first time since 1983.

6: India vs Pakistan, February 15, 2015 (IND won by 76 runs)

A sold-out Adelaide Oval played witness to a Virat Kohli carnage (107), half-centuries from Suresh Raina (74) and Shikhar Dhawan (73), and Mohammed Shami’s electric four-wicket haul.

India took the opportunity to bat first and posted 300/7 on the scoreboard, the first time they ever notched a 300-plus score in a World Cup game against their noisy neighbours. In reply, PAK were bundled out for 224 with captain Misbah-ul-Haq, the lone warhorse with 76 runs off 84 balls.

7: India vs Pakistan, June 16, 2019 (IND won by 89 runs - D/L method)

1999 - IND vs PAK, Manchester. India WIN

2019 - IND vs PAK, Manchester. India WIN

Twenty years on, Pakistan still struggled to solve the equation to end their losing streak against India at Manchester. Why? Because they found themselves at the mercy of ‘Hitman’ Rohit Sharma, who blasted his second World Cup century in the 2019 edition (third overall) to power India to a score of 336/5 in 50 overs. When India took the ball, they confidently broke through PAK’s defences and reduced them to 212/6 in a rain-affected encounter.

India vs Pakistan: Numbers Talk