India vs Pakistan throwback: Five fiery Asia Cup encounters between the arch-rivals over the years

India and Pakistan have played some memorable encounters in the Asia Cup, with even the matches that turned out to be one-sided contests featuring some extraordinary individual performances.

India and Pakistan have played each other 14 times in the Asia Cup. India lead the head to head count 8-5, with the match being washed out once in 1997. In fact, Pakistan have beaten India in the Asia Cup only once in the 10 years between 2008 and 2018, although that one victory turned out to be one of the most thrilling matches played between the two teams.

There have been a few fireworks between the two teams in the Asia Cup over the years.  (AP)

Let's take a look at five of the most memorable fixtures between the two arch-rivals at the Asia Cup:

1. Dambulla 2010 (Group match): India win by 3 wickets

A thriller of a game that ended in India's favour thanks to a six from Harbhajan Singh off the penultimate ball of the match, and Gautam Gambhir's masterful 83 off 97 balls. It was also the game in which Gambhir famously squared off with Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal during a drinks break before the two players were separated by the umpires and their teammates. Pakistan had scored 267 batting first with opener Salman Butt being their highest scorer with 74 runs off 85 balls. In response, India's opener Gambhir was the protagonist for much of the chase, with his 98-run stand with captain MS Dhoni helping them recover from losing Virender Sehwag and a young Virat Kohli early. Gambhir, however, fell to Saeed Ajmal while seniors Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik struck in back to back overs to dismiss Dhoni and Rohit Sharma. The focus then shifted to Raina, who scored 34 off 27 balls before being run out in the last over. Raina was the last recognised batter and thus was seen as India's last hope but incredibly, Harbhajan managed to hit the six off Mohammad Amir, who was spitting fire on the day, just two balls after Raina's dismissal to win the epic for India.

2. Mirpur 2014 (Group match): Pakistan win by one wicket

Pakistan's only win against India in the last six editions turned out to be one for the ages. Saeed Ajmal led the way in restricting India to 245/8. However, Pakistan then almost made a hash of the chase with Ravichandran Ashwin matching Ajmal's wicket haul of three scalps. However, Mohammad Hafeez and Sohaib Maqsood's watchful 82-run stand off 127 balls for the fifth wicket all but took the game away from India. Shahid Afridi then won it, smashing the nine required runs by hitting back to back sixes off the third and fourth balls of the last over.

3. Dhaka 1988 (Group match): India win by 4 wickets

A low scoring thriller, India managed to dismiss Pakistan for 142 runs in the 45-over match with spinner Arshad Ayub recording figures of 5/21. However, the chase was no cakewalk for India, and they eventually won the match by four wickets with six overs to spare.

4. Dubai 2018 (Super Four): India win by nine wickets

The 2018 Asia Cup was the only edition of the tournament in which India and Pakistan met each other twice. Both games turned out to be easy wins for India but the second was especially known for an exhibition of an opening stand from Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma. India were chasing a target of 238 and both Rohit and Dhawan scored centuries, putting up an opening stand of 210 runs in 33.3 overs. Dhawan was the aggressor, scoring 114 in 100 balls while Rohit was unbeaten on 111 off 119.

5. Mirpur 2012 (Group match): India win by six wickets

This was India's highest succesfull ODI chase at the time and it was all about Virat Kohli. Pakistan had scored 329/6 batting first with openers Mohammad Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed scoring centuries. Younis Khan then smashed 52 off 34 balls to set the 330-run target for India. Shockwaves would have been sent in the Indian campaign when opener Gautam Gambhir fell for a duck off the second ball of the innings. But then came the Kohli show, supported ably first by none other than Sachin Tendulkar, and then by Rohit Sharma. Kohli put up 133 runs off just 116 balls for the second wicket with Tendulkar and then put up a mammoth 172-run stand with Rohit off 158 balls for the third. He was the chief aggressor in both partnerships, smashing 103 off 75 balls in the stand with Rohit. By the time Kohli fell, it was the 48th over and he had scored 183 off 148 balls, which remains his highest ODI score, which included a whopping 22 fours and one six. Dhoni and Raina finished the match in that same over. Kohli had played an innings that foreshadowed an ODI career that has turned out to be one for the record books.