Arguably the most anticipated match of Asia Cup 2016 will take place on Saturday, India will lock horns with Pakistan on the 27th of February, and this fixture has always proved to be an exciting one between these two teams.

Interestingly, even though Pakistan has never defeated India in a Cricket World Cup in the past six encounters, the Indians haven’t had such an excellent run in the Asia Cup. Both teams have won 5-a-piece in Asia Cup history, although India shares a better overall success rate in the tournament, having won the Asia Cup five times as opposed to Pakistan winning it only twice.

India will be facing Pakistan in the group stages of the T20 World Cup and this match could prove crucial to both teams in getting to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. The Indian bowling attack comprising of Ashwin, Jadeja, Bumrah and Nehra, is evenly matched by the Pakistan bowling attack comprising of Wahab Riaz, Irfan, Amir, Afridi and Mohammad Nawaz. Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Yuvraj Singh and Raina will be the key players for India to score big runs while the Pakistan team will rely on Afridi, Hafeez, Malik, Sarfaraz and Umar Akmal. Both teams have experienced campaigners who have played in previous editions of the Asia Cup, and their experience will be key.

Amongst the two teams, Pakistan last won the Asia Cup in 2012 while India last won it in 2010. Pakistan was also the runners up in the 2014 edition, giving them a bit of an edge in recent Asia Cup history but the Indian team will not worry much about that given that they are the number one T20 squad at the moment.

Given the experience and current form, the Indians seems to have an edge but the Pakistan team will go into the tournament looking to upset the mighty Indian squad early in the tournament, as well as earn an edge over them in the Asia Cup head-to-heads. The match promises to be a great one as is always the case when these two rival countries take on each other in the gentleman’s game.

Here is a video presentation on epic rivalry by Follow Your Sport