India

Mahendra Singh Dhoni remains the reference point for what this side is capable of: he is the only captain to have lifted all three major International Cricket Council trophies, the 2007 T20 World Cup, the 2011 One Day International World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India, formed in Madras in December 1928, took the team to its first Test at Lord's in June 1932. Since then the "Men in Blue" have added three more T20 titles and two Champions Trophy wins to the collection, most recently the T20 crown in 2026 under Rohit Sharma. Gautam Gambhir now coaches a side split by format, with Shubman Gill captaining in Tests and ODIs and Shreyas Iyer leading the T20I side.

Every fixture against Pakistan still carries its own weight. India has no single home ground; matches move between Eden Gardens in Kolkata, still called the game's home in the country, the Wankhede in Mumbai, and venues in Bengaluru, Chennai and Delhi. The Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, holding 132,000, has become the largest of them all.