Cricket matches between India and Pakistan bring the most populous region in the world to a standstill.
Historically hostile geopolitics, marred by the blood-spattered partition of British India, four wars and a stockpile of nuclear weapons, means the two nations have what we’ll call a strained relationships.
Yet the two have much in common, including a crazy passion for cricket, and the rivalry off the field has made the on-field rivalry more severe and solemn.
Good or bad performances in these games are engraved in the history books. Chetan Sharma, the Indian bowler who was hit for a six on the last ball of game, will be always be remembered for that one unfortunate act. On the other side of the border, Javed Miandad, the Pakistani captain who hit Sharma for a six, is a national hero.
With this and many other clashes as backdrop, India and Pakistan meet on February 15 at Adelaide in the league round of Cricket World Cup. Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said the tickets for this match were sold out in 20 minutes.
One of the most anticipated matches of the tournament, this game is set to reignite the passion, the excitement and the tension.
India and Pakistan have met once in all World Cup since 1992, bar 2007, with the scoreline after these five encounters reading 5 – 0 in favour of India. As an ardent India fan, this is an extremely pleasing result.
However on their day Pakistanis can make India look like amateurs. In the upcoming game, the performance of Pakistans veterans Younis Khan, Misbah ul Huq and Shahid Afridi will be critical. Pakistan’s bowling armoury isn’t very impressive without the likes of Umar Gul, Junaid Khan and, critically, Saeed Ajmal.
India on the other hand has a strong team and the likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni can single-handedly pull a game away from any opposition. However India’s bowling has also been a worry, the team lacking a formidable frontline paceman. This will also be first time India meet Pakistan in a World Cup game without Sachin Tendulkar, who has been pivotal in all five previous encounters (Sachin was the man of the match on three occasions).
India, the defending champions, do not appear likely to win the Cup again. However, what is important is wining against Pakistan.
Winning this one game is reason enough to celebrate – it is worthy consolation for losing to any other team. As Harsha Bhogle has said, when India and Pakistan play in a multi-nation tournament like the World Cup, winning that one game against each other is considered as the destination, irrespective of how they perform in the rest of the tournament.
Though I pray India lift the Cup at Melbourne on March 29, I and millions of other Indian fans say to our team, “you may lose the Cup, but not to Pakistan!”
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