India and Pakistan are set to renew their fierce cricket rivalry in the 2025 Asia Cup on September 14. The Group A meeting will be at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, and the tournament is scheduled to be held in the United Arab Emirates between the 9th to the 28th of September. It is possible, based on how the competition goes, that the two rivals could face each other vis-à-vis, up to three times in this time frame as well.

India enters the tournament, the most successful team in Asia Cup history. The Men in Blue have won the title eight times since the tournaments inception and are the defending champion. Under Rohit Sharma's leadership, India won the 2023 edition of the tournament in Sri Lanka, further reasserting their dominance in Asian cricket. Conversely, Pakistan has won the Asia Cup only twice, with their last Asia Cup championship coming in Bangladesh in 2012 - over a decade ago.

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The Asia Cup 2025 will be played in a T20 format, unlike its 2012 edition which was contested in the 50-over format. This heightens the excitement factor as teams seek to find their feet for the ICC T20 World Cup in the following year. As a preparation tournament for these teams, they will want to find a good balance between testing combinations as well as finding their best teams. For India and Pakistan, this time around, this match is not only about history but preparation for the big global stage.

Leadership is really important in this context. The Men in Blue is captained by Suryakumar Yadav, who is beginning his first major multinational assignment as captain. Salman Ali Agha leads Pakistan who is also making his captaincy debut in an Asia Cup. Both players do not have much experience leading their teams in such high-stress tournaments and they will face scrutiny over their captaincy. However, there is real opportunity for both players to stake a claim to their captaincy positions on the big stage.

India has always held a massive advantage over Pakistan, both in a historical context, and attitudinally - whenever they meet in a World Cup. However, the Asia has not always been the same - matches can be very intense and the results are often difficult to forget. T20 cricket also produces less margin error - leaving both teams to utilize every opportunity of scoring. As they prepare for this encounter, ardent cricket fans from all parts of the world await a new episode to one of cricket's regal rivalries.

IND vs PAK head-to-head record in Asia Cup

The table highlights the head-to-head record between India and Pakistan in both ODIs and T20Is across Asia Cup encounters. In ODIs, the two sides have clashed 15 times since their first meeting on April 13, 1984, with India winning eight games, Pakistan securing five, and two ending without a result.The last ODI encounter took place on September 10, 2023, is a reflection of the longstanding rivalry between the two nations that has characterized the Asia Cup since they began facing each other. 

In T20Is, the two teams have met three times starting on February 27, 2016. India has only lost one of these games; therefore, India has won two matches and Pakistan has only won one, and the results demonstrate India’s superiority in the shorter format of the game. Overall, India leads with a total of 10 wins playing Pakistan from a total of 18 matches, while Pakistan has managed to win six, with two games resulting in no result. Their matches are always some of the most high-profile games in world cricket, as they last played in September 2023.