On Sunday night in Dubai, India extended their win streak against Pakistan to 7 consecutive wins across formats with a comfortable 7-wicket win while chasing 172 runs.
Unlike the first encounter between the teams in the Group Stage of the Asia Cup, Pakistan batted with intent as Sahibzada Farhan led them from the top with his 58(45), while Jasprit Bumrah ended his expensive spell with 0/45.
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However, the Pakistan bowlers were unable to cause any trouble for the Indian batters as Abhishek Sharma's 74(39) and Shubman Gill's 47(28) helped India breeze past the total.
Following the win with 7 balls left, India captain Suryakumar Yadav spoke about the lopsided rivalry between the sides in recent years and made a bold claim.
What did Suryakumar Yadav say about the India vs Pakistan rivalry?
Since the India-Pakistan bilateral cricket stopped in 2012, the neighboring nations only meet each other in ICC or ACC events, i.e., World Cups and Asia Cups, where India has consistently asserted dominance across formats.
Apart from the T20 World Cup 2021, Pakistan has not been able to beat India in either the 20-over or 50-over World Cups in their history.
The rivalry has become even more uneven since the turn of the decade, with Pakistan managing only two wins in 11 encounters across the two formats.
Addressing a question about the rivalry during the post-match press conference, captain Yadav openly refrained from referring to it as a rivalry anymore.
"I think you [media] should stop asking these questions about the rivalry now because if two teams play 15-20 matches and are 7-7 or 8-7 head-to-head then it is called playing good cricket and rivalry. 13-0 or 10-1 — I don't know what the stat is but this is not a rivalry anymore," said Yadav.
When did Pakistan last defeat India?
Pakistan's last win over India came on September 4, 2022, during the Super Four stage of the Asia Cup when they chased down India's 181/7 by 5 wickets and a ball remaining.
Mohammad Nawaz was the player of the match for his all-round effort of 42(20) and 1/25 with the ball.