The edge of opportunity

Rohit Mahajan AT THE WORLD CUP 

Manchester, June 15

India and Pakistan stand on the edge of a precipice — some imagine it to be the precipice of war, but it’s sport, just sport, as Virat Kohli repeatedly emphasised today.

It’s the precipice of opportunity, though: The young men and the oldish men of the two teams have the opportunity to become heroes.

India have never lost a World Cup match to Pakistan — never ever, winning each of their six contests at the quadrennial tournament in which they first met in 1992. Three of the six wins knocked Pakistan out of the tournament — in 1996, 2007 and 2011. 

The cost of failure isn’t so large in the context of tomorrow’s match, for this is only one of the nine round-robin matches each team has to play. However, the rained-out, abandoned matches in which points were split can have an impact to determine which four teams reach the semifinals. India have 5 points from three matches, Pakistan have 3 from four, having lost twice already. Another loss can potentially push them on to the precipice — of disaster.

Win at any cost

The fans, some of whom have travelled to Manchester from across the world, some of whom have forked out over £2,000 for a seat at this game, aren’t keen to split hairs over points — they want a win for their team, at any cost. “For us, this is the most important match of the World Cup,” says Divyansh Patel, a fan craning his neck for a glimpse of the Indian team bus outside the Old Trafford Stadium here. “If we win this and don’t win the World Cup, no problem!” Pakistan’s fans echo this sentiment, perhaps with greater passion, for they don’t like the 0-6 record their team has against India in the World Cup.

Just another match

Kohli, though, is determined to view his third World Cup game against Pakistan as “just another match”. “We have literally discussed nothing different (for this match)…” Kohli said. “We understand that any game that you play for your country can be emotional, adrenaline filled, so no one game is more important or more special for us than the other.” 

Rain and hurt

For the Indian team, the question is over who will replace the injured Shikhar Dhawan in the playing XI. KL Rahul will move up from No. 4 to opener’s slot to replace Dhawan, and it’s likely that either allrounder Vijay Shankar or wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik would come in at No. 4. The conditions, with the possibility of help to the seam bowlers, can lead to the inclusion of Vijay in the playing XI; also, Mohammed Shami could come in as the third seamer to replace left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav.

Speaking of hurt, rain can hurt this match terribly. At the time of writing this report, the chances of rain hitting the venue just before the scheduled start tomorrow to start are 20 per cent, and they go up to 80 per cent in the evening. It’s going to be a truncated game, for sure. The possibility of abandonment? It does exist.

Be a hero

Be a hero, that’s what Mickey Arthur, the coach of the Australian team, has told his boys. “You could be a hero tomorrow,” Arthur has told his players. “I’ve told them ‘Your careers are going to be defined by a moment in the game. You do something incredible tomorrow, you’ll be remembered forever’.”

Like Ajay Jadeja in 1996 or Sachin Tendulkar in 2003. Conversely, loss will invite censure and shame.

Just another match? It’s a cliché, an ideal that’s often evoked but never really grasped. 

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Pitch and conditions

• Pitch is flat, with no sign of green. Expect high-scoring game
• 73 Wins for Pakistan in 131 ODIs played against India
• 27.50  Babar Azam’s average against India contrary to his career figure of 50.96. He is yet to cross half-century in the four matches played against India
• 1 ODI played between Pak and India at Old Trafford: Super Six stage of the 1999 World Cup. India won by 47 runs
• 12 Sarfaraz Ahmed’s side have lost 12 of their last 13 completed ODIs 

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Ind vs Pak in World Cup

• Matches 6
• India won 6
• Pakistan won 0

Form guideIndia: WWLLL

• Pakistan: LWLLL
• (L=lost W=won; Last five completed matches, most recent first)

‘Mother will be praying for me’

"My mother will definitely be praying for me from the heavens. Her biggest wish was that I get five wickets, so when I got 5 wickets against Australia, I cried and remembered her "— Mohammad Amir