Cricket arch-rivals Pakistan, India to clash in rare World Cup event

International cricket's fiercest rivals — India and Pakistan — will come face to face at the sport's biggest stadium in Ahmedabad, India on Saturday [October 14] for a game that promises to light up the ICC World Cup.

The hotly-anticipated World Cup game will be played in front of a packed Narendra Modi Stadium which has a capacity to hold more than 130,000 fans.

Hundreds of millions more would be following it on their screens all over the globe making it one of the most watched spectacles in the sporting world, perhaps almost in the league of a FIFA World Cup final.

This is the first time in seven years that Pakistan would be playing on Indian soil as relations between the two South Asian nations remain tense primarily over the dispute of Kashmir — a Himalayan Muslim-majority territory both countries rule in parts but claim in entirety.

India last toured Pakistan 16 years ago. The two teams now only meet in multi-team contests like the ongoing 10-nation World Cup. Pakistan-India games on the cricket field have always been major draws and have, in recent decades, become money-spinners.

There have been reports that for Saturday's game, some tickets are being sold for USD 300,000 each.

Twelve years ago, a star-studded Pakistan cricket team landed in India to play the ICC World Cup semi-final against the hosts at Mohali.

Led by flamboyant all-rounder Shahid Afridi, the Pakistan team was brimming with world-class players and had swaggered into the last-four after thrashing the West Indies by 10 wickets in a one-sided quarter-final in Dhaka.

But the Pakistanis squandered a seemingly winning position to lose the game, watched by both nations' prime ministers, by 29 runs. It was their fifth straight loss to India in a World Cup match.

Pakistan went on to lose World Cup games against their arch-rivals in 2015 [Australia/New Zealand] and 2019 [England], continuing their losing spree against India which began at the 1992 World Cup Down Under.

Incidentally, they went on to win the coveted title that year.

This Saturday, Pakistan will be looking to end the World Cup jinx by beating hot favourites India in Ahmedabad, fully aware that such a result would boost their hopes of winning the World Cup by leaps and bounds.

India, meanwhile, would be gunning for an eighth straight World Cup win against their old rivals in front of home fans.

The Indians were triumphant when the World Cup was last held in their own backyard in 2011 but they have not won a major international title since that memorable victory.

On paper, India look set to extend their winning run against Pakistan. And it's not just that history is on their side.

Captain Rohit Sharma and his men will take the field against Pakistan following two impressive World Cup wins, including one against 2015 champions Australia.

'It's all about preparation'

Last month, India toyed with Pakistan in a stunning 228-run triumph in an Asia Cup Super-Four game in Colombo.

"The Indians have all their bases covered," former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram told TRT World.

"India is perhaps the most well-balanced team in this tournament. They have prepared a perfect combination with a great batting lineup, quality pace and a wily spin attack fully capable of exploiting the slow pitches in India. They also have a solid backup with a lot of very talented and in-form players on the bench. It is going to take a herculean effort from Pakistan to overcome them," added Wasim, the biggest hero of Pakistan's 1992 World Cup's title-winning triumph.

Wasim's view might appear pessimistic especially to die hard Pakistani fans but he certainly has a point.

In recent times while Indian cricket has taken major strides, Pakistan have mostly been inconsistent. It's not that they have not beaten the Indians in recent years. In the Champions Trophy final in 2017 in England, not many gave Pakistan a chance against the fancied Indians.

But opener Fakhar Zaman smashed a hundred as Pakistan crushed India by 180 runs to win the title. And at the 2021 T20 World Cup, Pakistan captain Babar Azam and Muhammad Rizwan, who hit a match-winning ton in a World Cup game against Sri Lanka last Tuesday, guided them to a massive 10-wicket triumph against India.

However, such wins have been few and far between. And most experts don't give Pakistan much chance against the well-oiled and well-drilled Indians on Saturday.

"It's all about preparations," said Wasim.

"Unlike India, Pakistan isn't well-prepared. It's true that they have won back-to-back games, but those were against weaker sides [the Netherlands and Sri Lanka]. They don't have any backup.

Key fast bowler Naseem Shah's exit from the team due to injury [just before the World Cup] was a big setback. Shaheen Shah Afridi [Pakistan's lead fast bowler] doesn't seem to be at his best. The big problem is that we have no reliable substitutes and that puts a big question mark on Pakistan's chances against India and in this World Cup."

'No continuity'

Both sides have clashed 134 times in One Day International matches. Pakistan hold edge as they have won 73 games, while India have won 56.

Things were very different for Pakistan back in the eighties when Wasim made his debut.

It was Pakistan that enjoyed the upper hand against India, having won memorable games against their rivals, most famously at the 1986 Sharjah final when the legendary Javed Miandad hit a match-winning six off the last delivery.

For years, Pakistan dominated India on the cricket field. Things have changed.

"The Indians have planned well over the years and are now producing match-winners," said Wasim.

"Unfortunately, in Pakistan, we have no continuity. The country's cricket board [PCB] set-up is changed every now and then and the game of musical chairs continues. You can't prepare top class players in such circumstances," he lamented.

Wasim, however, believes that the fact that a good performance against India can make you a star overnight could motivate the Pakistanis to put their best foot forward.

"There is no bigger stage for a Pakistani cricketer than a World Cup game against India and vice versa. I mean, if you win a match against India, you become a star for the rest of your life, and that's a huge motivation.

"Imagine more than a billion fans watching. There is certainly a lot of extra pressure. Even as a youngster I used to thrive on that pressure. I used to target their best batters like Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, knowing fully well that these are the moments when you have to deliver."

Wasim was Pakistan's captain when Pakistan were unable to defend their title in the 1996 World Cup as they fell to India in a tense quarter-final in Bangalore.

Wasim didn't play that game due to injury. He was later accused by fans of feigning it.

"That was one of the worst phases of my career," he said.

"The defeat (against India) wasn't accepted by the fans who blamed us for the loss. They were so angry that we couldn't step out of our homes for days," he added.

Ask Aamir Sohail, the former left-handed opener who led Pakistan in the Bangalore quarter-final and he will tell you that a game between Pakistan and India can make or break a player from either side.

"There is so much intensity. There is so much at stake. It's the sort of game that can make or break you. You can become a star, literally overnight," Aamir told TRT World.

But cricket games between Pakistan and India aren't just about winning or losing on the field.

Over the years, despite the extreme animosity between the two nations, cricket has been a source of great friendship for players on both sides of the border.

Pakistan-India players' friendship

Recently, Shaheen Afridi made headlines when he presented Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah with a gift on the birth of his baby on the sidelines of the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka.

The two exchanged pleasantries.

Friendship between Pakistan and Indian players has run much deeper over the years. And it's not just the cricketers.

Fans, too, have over the years shown great appreciation towards cricketing stars from either side of the divide.

During his heyday, Imran Khan, the former Pakistan captain and ex-prime minister currently languishing in jail over corruption charges, had a huge following in India.

Today, Indian batting star Virat Kohli has millions of Pakistani fans. "Cricket can break barriers," said Wasim.

"I have so many good friends among Indian cricketers. In fact I would say [former India captain] Ravi Shastri is one of my best friends," Wasim said.

"It's natural because we have the same language, we like the same food and even enjoy the same jokes," he added.

Aamir believes that some of his most memorable games were against India.

"I have thoroughly enjoyed playing against India because, as a cricketer, there can't be any bigger games. and I must say that there has been a lot of mutual respect between players of both teams over the years."

Rewind to the seventies and you'll find players like Pakistan's Zaheer Abbas and Asif Iqbal and India's Sunil Gavaskar, Bishen Singh Bedi and Farokh Engineer enjoying great friendship off the field despite being big rivals on it.

"We have always enjoyed each other's company," Zaheer Abbas, one of the greatest batsmen Pakistan has ever produced, told TRT World.

"There have been problems [due to politics] but we cricketers have always been friends," he added.

The problems have been numerous, and they continue, especially for Pakistan.

Their team has already played and won two of its World Cup games and will be playing the biggest one [against India] on Saturday but fans and even journalists from Pakistan had not received Indian visas till Thursday.

Despite protests from Pakistan and efforts by the International Cricket Council [ICC], the visa issue had persisted once again highlighting the fact that the BJP-led Indian right-wing government continues to use cricket as a form of diplomatic sanction against Pakistan.

Though there have been assurances from the Indian side that the visa issue would be resolved, it remains highly unlikely that there would be Pakistani fans or journalists present at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad when Babar Azam's men will take on India in what would be one of the biggest games of their lives.

Using Wasim Akram's words, this game has the potential of "changing the mood of an entire nation".