A total of 20 matches have been played at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium in Pakistan, out of which 10 have been won by sides batting first and exactly the same number by sides batting second.
Pakistan have a remarkable record at Rawalpindi with 12 wins out of 16 games played here. India have played only once here in the past -- in 2003-04 and had lost that match.
India's only appearance at this ground was in fact in a match, which was a contest between bat and bat.
Batting first, Pakistan put on a mammoth total of 329-6. India, riding on Sachin Tendulkar's brilliant 141 - the highest innings by any batsman at this ground - came very close in overhauling Pakistan's total, but lost the match by 12 runs in the end.
India's total of 317 is still the highest second innings total by a visiting side in Pakistan and also the highest ever second innings total by any side against Pakistan.
Though batsmen dictated terms in that India-Pakistan encounter, the subsequent three matches have been low-scoring affairs, with the highest first innings score being just 210.
Winning the toss has had its effect on the result, but not by much. Only 12 times the toss-winning captain has gone on to win the match.
The pitch has assisted pace bowlers more than the spinners. Of the 232 wickets taken by the bowlers, 73.7 % have been taken by pacers and only 26.3 % by spinners.
Shoaib Akhtar has enjoyed bowling on this surface. In fact, he is just two wickets short of displacing Waqar Younis from the top position of leading wicket-takers list at Rawalpindi.
Shahid Afridi may just be the trump-card for Pakistan. He is the one man who can change the course of a match on his own. 165 runs (avg 33.00) and seven wickets (avg 24.57) in 5 games here clearly indicate that this surface suits his style of cricket. Beware India!
Performance of each country:| Country | M | W | L | D | Winning % |
| Australia | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Bangladesh | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| England | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 25.00 |
| India | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Netherlands | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| New Zealand | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Pakistan | 16 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 75.00 |
| South Africa | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 83.33 |
| Sri Lanka | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 66.66 |
| United Arab Emirates | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Zimbabwe | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0.00 |
Highest team scores:
| Score | Overs | For | Vs | Date | Result |
| 329-6 | 50 | Pak | Ind | 16 Mar 2004 | Won |
| 328-3 | 50 | SAf | Net | 05 Mar 1996 | Won |
| 321-2 | 50 | SAf | UAE | 16 Feb 1996 | Won |
| 317 | 48.4 | Ind | Pak | 16 Mar 2004 | Lost |
| 302-6 | 50 | Pak | Zim | 24 Nov 1998 | Won |
| 278-7 | 47.1 | Pak | NZ | 24 Apr 2002 | Won |
| 277-4 | 50 | Pak | NZ | 07 Dec 2003 | Won |
| 277-5 | 50 | NZ | Pak | 24 Apr 2002 | Lost |
Lowest team scores:
| Score | Overs | For | Vs | Date | Result |
| 104 | 33 | Zim | SL | 09 Oct 2004 | Lost |
| 152 | 44.3 | Eng | SAf | 25 Feb 1996 | Lost |
| 152-8 | 50 | UAE | SAf | 16 Feb 1996 | Lost |
| 154 | 38.4 | SL | Pak | 19 Jan 1992 | Lost |
| 157 | 47.4 | Pak | SAf | 10 Oct 2003 | Lost |
| 158 | 42.5 | Eng | Pak | 30 Oct 2000 | Lost |
Leading run-scorers:
| Runs | Batsman | For | Mts | Inns | NO | Hs | Avg | SR | 100s | 50s | 0s |
| 552 | Inzamam-ul-Haq | Pak | 14 | 12 | 4 | 117 | 69.00 | 81.30 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| 389 | Yasir Hameed | Pak | 6 | 6 | 1 | 127* | 77.80 | 72.44 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| 329 | G Kirsten | SAf | 4 | 4 | 2 | 188* | 164.50 | 93.20 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 277 | Mohammad Yousuf | Pak | 11 | 8 | 1 | 94* | 39.57 | 64.27 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| 264 | Saeed Anwar | Pak | 4 | 4 | 1 | 104* | 88.00 | 88.00 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Leading wicket-takers:
| Wkts | Batsman | For | Mts | Balls | Mdns | Runs | Best | 5WI | Ave | SR | RpO |
| 11 | Waqar Younis | Pak | 6 | 324 | 1 | 267 | 2-35 | 0 | 24.27 | 29.45 | 4.94 |
| 10 | Shoaib Akhtar | Pak | 7 | 367 | 6 | 262 | 3-23 | 0 | 26.20 | 36.70 | 4.28 |
| 9 | Mohammad Sami | Pak | 5 | 268 | 2 | 211 | 3-41 | 0 | 23.44 | 29.78 | 4.72 |
| 8 | Abdul Razzaq | Pak | 9 | 390 | 0 | 301 | 2-40 | 0 | 37.63 | 48.75 | 4.63 |
| 8 | Wasim Akram | Pak | 7 | 354 | 3 | 249 | 2-32 | 0 | 31.13 | 44.25 | 4.22 |
| 8 | SM Pollock | SAf | 5 | 267 | 7 | 121 | 3-33 | 0 | 15.13 | 33.38 | 2.72 |
| 8 | Saqlain Mushtaq | Pak | 3 | 138 | 0 | 94 | 5-20 | 1 | 11.75 | 17.25 | 4.09 |
More from rediff