India, Feb. 15 -- India vs Pakistan at the T20 World Cup isn't a rivalry that unfolds slowly. It spikes. One phase, one over, sometimes one delivery, and the whole match tilts - not because either side suddenly becomes a different team, but because this fixture magnifies every decision into a referendum on nerves.

What decides it, again and again, is simple: who keeps their clarity when the game turns irrational. The best way to prove that is to walk through the matches that have actually shaped the mythology - and show, specifically, what each one was decided by.

The first ever India vs Pakistan match in a T20 World Cup ended in a tie - and was settled by a bowl out. That match matters because it established the rivalry's first modern ...