India–Pakistan field hockey rivalry
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The India–Pakistan field hockey rivalry is among the most intense sporting rivalries in Asia and among the fiercest in field hockey. India and Pakistan have played each other numerous times in international senior hockey since their first meeting in 1956. They participate in various tournaments, namely the Summer Olympic Games, Hockey World Cup, FIH Pro League, Commonwealth Games, Asia Cup, Men's Asian Champions Trophy, Asian Games, South Asian Games and Sultan Azlan Shah Cup.
_Saravanjit_Singh_of_India_scoring_a_goal_against_Pakistan,_at_Dhayan_Chand_National_Stadium,_in_New_Delhi_on_October_10_2010.jpg)
(1956 Olympics, 6 December 1956)[1]
(FIH Pro League, 26 June 2026)
2010 Commonwealth Games hockey match played between India and Pakistan in Delhi | |
| Location | Worldwide |
|---|---|
| Teams |  India Pakistan |
| First meeting | India 1–0 Pakistan (1956 Olympics, 6 December 1956)[1] |
| Latest meeting | India 7–1 Pakistan (FIH Pro League, 26 June 2026) |
| Next meeting | Pakistan vs India (FIH Hockey World Cup, 19 August 2026) |
| Statistics | |
| Total meetings | 183 |
| Most wins | Pakistan (82) India (69) |
Largest victory | India 10–2 Pakistan (2022 Asian Games, 30 September 2023) |
India and Pakistan have met in eight Asian Games finals, including each of the first six. Pakistan has won six of those finals, while India has won two.[2][3] The two teams also played each other in three successive Olympic hockey finals from 1956 to 1964, with India winning the 1956 and 1964 finals and Pakistan winning the 1960 final.[4][5][6] They have also faced each other in three Asia Cup finals, with Pakistan winning two of them. The only Hockey World Cup final between India and Pakistan was played in 1975 and it ended in a 2–1 win for India.[7][8][9][10][11]
Across all head-to-head meetings, Pakistan has won 82 games, while India has won 69. In Olympic field hockey, India has won eight gold medals compared with Pakistan's three. Pakistan has also won four Hockey World Cup titles, while India has won one.
Among the top three goal-scorers in this bilateral rivalry, Sohail Abbas of Pakistan leads by a significant margin, scoring 54 goals. He is followed by Pakistan's Hassan Sardar (22 goals) and India's Sandeep Singh (21 goals).
Statistics
- By Year
Decade wise record of India vs Pakistan field hockey:[12]
| Year | Matches | Results | Goals | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| India |
Pakistan |
Draw | India |
Pakistan | ||
| 1950s | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 1960s | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| 1970s | 13 | 3 | 9 | 1 | 10 | 27 |
| 1980s | 46 | 14 | 22 | 10 | 79 | 111 |
| 1990s | 26 | 9 | 13 | 4 | 52 | 62 |
| 2000s | 47 | 14 | 27 | 6 | 108 | 128 |
| 2010s | 35 | 19 | 8 | 8 | 102 | 62 |
| 2020s | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 35 | 12 |
| Total | 183 | 69 | 82 | 32 | 390 | 407 |
- By Tournament
The record between India and Pakistan by tournament is:[13]
| Tournament | Matches | Results | Goals | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| India |
Pakistan |
Draw | India |
Pakistan | |||
| Test series | 52 | 16 | 25 | 11 | 104 | 124 | |
| Summer Olympics | 7 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 8 | |
| World Cup | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 7 | |
| FIH Pro League | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 4 | |
| Champions Trophy | 19 | 7 | 12 | 0 | 48 | 54 | |
| Asian Games | 16 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 27 | 31 | |
| Asia Cup | 9 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 18 | 20 | |
| Asian Champions Trophy | 12 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 34 | 23 | |
| Commonwealth Games | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 10 | |
| FIH Hockey World League | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 4 | |
| Afro-Asian Games | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 3 | |
| Other Matches (Continent wise) | |||||||
| Africa | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | |
| Americas | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 8 | |
| Asia | 34 | 14 | 14 | 6 | 79 | 69 | |
| Europe | 10 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 16 | 33 | |
| Oceania | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 9 | |
| Total | 183 | 69 | 82 | 32 | 390 | 407 | |
Major tournaments won
| Tournament | India |
Pakistan |
|---|---|---|
| Summer Olympics | 8 (1928, 1932, 1936, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1964, 1980) | 3 (1960, 1968, 1984) |
| World Cup | 1 (1975) | 4 (1971, 1978, 1982, 1994) |
| Champions Trophy | — | 3 (1978, 1980, 1994) |
| Hockey Series | 1 (2018–19) | — |
| Champions Challenge | 1 (2001) | — |
| Asian Games | 4 (1966, 1998, 2014, 2022) | 8 (1958, 1962, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1990, 2010) |
| Asia Cup | 4 (2003, 2007, 2017, 2025) | 3 (1982, 1985, 1989) |
| Asian Champions Trophy | 5 (2011, 2016, 2018, 2023, 2024) | 3 (2012, 2013, 2018) |
| Afro-Asian Games | 1 (2003) | — |
| South Asian Games | 1 (1995) | 3 (2006, 2010, 2016) |
| Sultan Azlan Shah Cup | 5 (1985, 1991, 1995, 2009, 2010) | 3 (1999, 2000, 2003) |
| Total | 31 | 30 |
Records
Top goal-scorers
Pakistan
| Rank | Player | Goals | Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sohail Abbas |
54 | 1998–2012 |
| 2 | Hassan Sardar |
22 | 1979–1987 |
| 3 | Rehan Butt |
19 | 2002–2012 |
| 4 | Hanif Khan |
13 | 1976–1985 |
| Kaleemullah |
13 | 1979–1986 |
India
| Rank | Player | Goals | Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sandeep Singh |
21 | 2004–2012 |
| 2 | Harmanpreet Singh |
19 | 2015– |
| 3 | Gagan Ajit Singh |
18 | 1997–2007 |
| 4 | Mohinder Pal Singh |
15 | 1976–1988 |
| Baljit Singh Dhillon |
15 | 1993–2004 | |
| 6 | Dhanraj Pillay |
11 | 1989–2004 |
Test series
India and Pakistan have played eight Test series, all between 1978 and 2006. Pakistan has won six series, while India has won one, and one series ended in a draw. Across all series, 52 matches have been played, with Pakistan winning 25, India winning 16, and 11 matches ending in a draw. The goals aggregate is 124–104 in Pakistan's favour. Reports of Test series being revived emerged in 2013[16] and 2017,[17] but have not materialized since then.
| Year | Matches | Winner | Results | Pakistan |
India | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Captain | Coach | Captain | Coach | ||||
| 1978 | 4 | Pakistan win |
3–1 | Islahuddin Siddique | Sayad A. Hussain |
Victor Philips | Randhir Singh Gentle |
| 1981 | 4 | Pakistan win |
2–1 | Akhtar Rasool | Khwaja Zakauddin |
Surjit Singh Randhawa | Harmik Singh |
| 1986 | 7 | India win |
3–2 | Hassan Sardar | Anwar Ahmad Khan |
Mohammed Shahid | M. P. Ganesh |
| 1988 | 6 | Draw | 2–2 | Nasir Ali | Manzoor-ul Hassan |
M. M. Somaya | M. P. Ganesh |
| 1998 | 8 | Pakistan win |
4–3 | Tahir Zaman | Islahuddin Siddique |
Dhanraj Pillay | Vasudevan Baskaran |
| 1999 | 9 | Pakistan win |
5–3 | Atif Bashir | Shehnaz Sheikh |
Anil Aldrin | Vasudevan Baskaran |
| 2004 | 8 | Pakistan win |
4–2 | Waseem Ahmed |  Roelant Oltmans |
Dilip Tirkey |  Gerhard Rach |
| 2006 | 6 | Pakistan win |
3–1 | Muhammad Saqlain | Asif Bajwa |
Ignace Tirkey | Rajinder Singh Jr. |
Results in major tournaments
The following table shows India vs Pakistan in major tournaments :
Note: Tournaments highlighted in red are defunct and are no longer held.
Other matches
Other matches played between India and Pakistan are:
| Tournament | Year | Venue | Results | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| India |
Pakistan |
Note | |||
| Hockey Festival | 1966 | Hamburg |
1 | 1 | Draw |
| Pre-Olympic Invitation Tournament | 1967 |  London |
0 | 1 | Pakistan win |
| Jinnah Memorial Cup | 1976 | Lahore |
0 | 5 | Pakistan win |
| Pentangular Cup | 1980 |  Kuala Lumpur |
1 | 3 | Pakistan win |
| Test Matches | 1982 |  Dubai |
1 | 5 | Pakistan win |
| 1 | 3 | Pakistan win | |||
| Esanda Cup | 1982 |  Melbourne |
2 | 1 | India win |
| Golden Jubilee Cup | 1983 |  Hong Kong |
1 | 5 | Pakistan win |
| Test Matches | 1985 |  Kuwait City |
1 | 0 | India win |
| 1 | 0 | India win | |||
 Doha |
1 | 1 | Draw | ||
| Emirates Cup | 1986 | Dubai |
2 | 2 | Draw |
| Kuwait City |
3 | 3 | Draw | ||
| 4 Nations Cups | 1986 |  Leningrad |
0 | 2 | Pakistan win |
| Marshall Invitation Cup[19] | 1988 |  Nairobi |
3 | 0 | India win |
| 1 | 1 | Draw | |||
| Indira Gandhi Gold Cup | 1989 | Lucknow |
0 | 3 | Pakistan win |
| Atlanta Challenge Cup | 1996 |  Atlanta |
2 | 2 | Draw |
| Prime Ministers Cup | 2001 |  Dhaka |
3 | 3 | Draw ( India win p.s.o 6–5) |
| 4 nations tournament | 2003 | Perth |
2 | 0 | India win |
| Sydney |
4 | 4 | Draw | ||
| RaboTrophy | 2004 | Amsterdam |
1 | 6 | Pakistan win |
| 3 | 5 | Pakistan win | |||
| RaboTrophy | 2005 | Amsterdam |
1 | 3 | Pakistan win |
| 3 nations tournament | 2011 | Busselton |
3 | 3 | Draw |
| Bunbury |
1 | 1 | Draw | ||
| Friendly | 2011 | India |
2 | 3 | Pakistan win |
| Lanco International Super Series[20] | 2012 | Perth |
5 | 2 | India win |
Players who have played for both teams
Prior to the Partition of India in 1947 India had played field hockey, having first played as an international side in 1926. Following the Partition, Pakistan was created and began playing as an independent nation, making their debut at the 1948 Summer Olympics.
The following players played for Pakistan after appearing for India. They are:[21]
- Ali Dara – Represented India at 1936 Olympics; and for Pakistan at 1948 Olympics
- Peter Paul Fernandes – Represented India at 1936 Olympics; and for Pakistan after 1948
- Latif-ur Rehman – Represented India at 1948 Olympics; and for Pakistan at 1952 and 1956 Olympics
- Akhtar Hussain – Represented India at 1948 Olympics; and for Pakistan at 1956 Olympics
See also
Notes
- Held in September – October 2023