[3] The tense relations between the two nations, resulting from bitter diplomatic relationships and conflict that originated during the Partition of British India into India and Pakistan in 1947, the Indo-Pakistani Wars, and the Kashmir conflict, laid the foundations for the emergence of a fierce sporting rivalry between the two nations who had shared a common cricketing heritage.

Tests and, later, limited overs series have been played ever since, although a number of planned tours by both sides have been cancelled or aborted due to political factors.

[5][6] The growth of large expatriate populations from both countries across the world led to neutral venues, including the United Arab Emirates and Canada, hosting bilateral and multilateral One Day International (ODI) series involving the two teams and the teams have met during International Cricket Council (ICC) competitions.

The legacy of Partition and subsequent territorial disputes have helped create heated rivalries in field hockey, association football, and especially in cricket, which had been developed during British colonial rule and is the most popular sport in both nations.

[9] When India toured Pakistan in 1955, thousands of Indian fans were granted visas to go to the Pakistani city of Lahore to watch the Test match, but both the 1955 series and Pakistan's tour of India in 1961 ended in drawn series, with neither team being able to win a single Test match.

The resumption of cricketing ties in 1978 came with the emergence of heads of government in both India and Pakistan who were not directly connected with the 1971 war and coincided with their formal initiatives to normalise bilateral relations.

[citation needed] In the late 1980s and for most of the 1990s, India and Pakistan played each other only at neutral venues such as Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates and in the Canadian city of Toronto, where large audiences of expatriates regularly watched matches between the sides.

Sharjah, even though a neutral venue, was considered as the "back yard of Pakistan" given the close proximity and the massive support the team generated.

[15] In 1999, immediately following Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's historic visit to Pakistan, the Pakistani team toured India for a series of Test matches and One Day Internationals.

[17] The 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket team in Lahore led to the suspension of international tours of Pakistan, with no Test series played in the country for a decade[18] and Pakistan was removed as a co-host for the 2011 Cricket World Cup which had been due to be played across the Indian subcontinent.

[20] In June 2014, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced that an agreement to play six bilateral series across eight years between the two teams had reached.

[21] After lengthy negotiations involving offers and counter-offers on the venues and scheduling of the first of these series in December 2015, the boards were unable to reach an agreement.

In January 2023, ACC confirmed the teams and groups of the Asia Cup, with both India and Pakistan taking part.

[32] In March 2023, it was proposed that Pakistan remain as hosts and that all India matches - including at least two India-Pakistan contests - would be played at a neutral venue yet to be confirmed.

[35] On 15 June 2023, the Asian Cricket Council announced that the tournament would be organized in a hybrid model with four matches being held in Pakistan, and the remaining nine in Sri Lanka.

Though the first match in the Group stage yielded a no result due to rain, India defeated Pakistan by an enormous margin in the Super Four clash between the 2 sides, scoring 356 for the loss of only 2 wickets.

In the 2011 Cricket World Cup, India knocked out Pakistan in the semi-finals to qualify for the finals (which they subsequently won).

The last time the two cricket frenzy nations clashed during the 2023 Cricket World Cup match played at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad, India outclassed Pakistan by 7 wickets taking the scoreline to 8–0 in India's favour at ODI World Cups.

Fans from around the world scrambled to secure their seats for this high-stakes contest, ensuring that the match will be a spectacle not to be missed.

India has won ten of these meetings compared to Pakistan's seven victories with two match finishing as no result due to rain.

Neither team has won the World Test Championship, although India finished as runners-up in both the editions, having played in the finals.

[64] The best bowling performance in matches between the sides was the 4/18 taken by Mohammad Asif during the group stage meeting between the teams at the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa.

Following Partition, Pakistan was created and began playing as an independent nation, making their Test match debut in 1952 during a tour of India.

[73] In the Indian cricket team in Pakistan in the 1989–90 series, the 3rd ODI at Karachi was abandoned due to crowd disturbance.

[76] Sanjay Manjrekar wrote in his book, in the first ODI, that Indian captain Krishnamachari Srikkanth's shirt was torn by a Pakistani spectator.

[84][85] Furthermore, in 2004 after a break of fifteen years, India toured Pakistan in the wake of diplomatic initiatives to bury half a century of mutual hostility.

The trip, however, quickly took on the air of a summit as the sides were urged "to seize a historic chance to end their dispute over Kashmir.

In 1991, the workers of the Indian political party Shiv Sena dug up the cricket pitch at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on the eve of an India-Pakistan Test match which was to be held there, forcing the entire series between the two nations to be cancelled.

During the 2011 Cricket World Cup, the semi-final is believed to have eased the relationship between India and Pakistan after the polarising 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh used this opportunity and greeted his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani to watch the match with him at Mohali.