India and Pakistan's bilateral series is now a far-off dream, due to the political tension between the neighbouring countries. However, the arch-rivals' last few bilateral series lived upto expectations, with plenty of action and drama on and off the field.
Pakistan toured India both in late 2007 and 2012-13, but it was the 2007 season that proved to be more successful for the Men in Blue. While MS Dhoni & Co. lost the ODIs and drew the two T20Is in 2012-13, they won both the 3 Tests and 5 ODIs back in 2007.
During the 2007 ODI series, India won the series opener courtesy Sourav Ganguly's 39, Yuvraj Singh and then newly-appointed limited-overs captain Dhoni's respective fifties. However, Robin Uthappa also looked good for his run-a-ball 11, where he even tried his famous walk-out shot off pacer Shoaib Akhtar.
While he didn't time it well, the edge off his willow led to the winning runs for Team India. Though the Men in Green bounced back and levelled the series in the next tie, in Mohali, India were again in the lead after the third encounter before Akhtar came to Uthappa and warned him for trying his walk-out shot off him, prior to the penultimate ODI.
Uthappa narrated the whole incident recently to stand-up comedian Sorabh Pant on his YouTube channel 'Wake Up With Sorabh'. "I'll share one story about Shoaib Akhtar. We were playing a game in Guwahati. And since it's in the east of India, it gets dark there early. Back then, we did not have two new balls. After 34 overs, we used to get a ball which used to be 24 overs old but slightly better. Shoaib was bowling and Irfan and I were batting. I think we needed 12 to win off 25 balls or something like that.
I remember he bowled a yorker to me. I missed it from the arm and only saw it coming straight into the blockhole. I stopped the ball dead there. That was 154 something clicks. Next ball was a low full toss and I hit the ball for four. So after that, we needed 3 or 4 runs to win and I told myself, 'Man, I have to walk out to Shoaib Akhtar and hit him. How many times will I get that opportunity.' He bowled a length ball and I did it; it took the edge and it went for four. We won the match," he said.
Uthappa further opined, "We went to Gwalior for the next game (4th ODI) and I remember we all were having dinner together. I think we hung out in someone's room and having a meal. Shoaib bhai was there as well. He came to me and said 'Robin… well played. Good game'. And then he said 'One more thing… you walked out and hit me today. If you do that again, even I don't know what will happen… you might get a beamer directed at your head.' After that, I didn't even dare walk out to him."
Talking about the last two ODIs, India won the fourth ODI by 6 wickets to take an unassailable lead, 3-1, before Shoaib Malik & Co. closed out the series with a 31-run consolation win in the final tie.
Since the 2012-13 India-Pakistan bilateral series, the two cricketing giants have never met in bilateral assignments but only in ICC events. The last clash between the senior men's cricket team took place during the 2019 ODI World Cup, where Virat Kohli & Co. won by 89 runs (DLS method).
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