The much-anticipated Pakistan-India clash at the 2015 World Cup will be the most watched match in cricket history, a World Cup official says.
The South Asian giants take on each other on February 15 in Adelaide, Australia, and more than a billion people are expected to tune in. The audience will eclipse the 988 million who watched the two nations in their 2011 World Cup semi-final.
“It will be unlike any cricket match ever seen in Australia,” a World Cup official told The Australian.
Pakistan, led by veteran Misbah-ul-Haq, will be looking to break their World Cup jinx against India who have won all five encounters between the two sides at the showpiece event. They first met at the 1992 tournament that was also co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia.
Defending champions India, led by MS Dhoni who has retired from Tests and is likely to call it quits from the ODI side as well, will be looking to repeat their success in 2011 where they lifted the trophy at home.
Misbah appeared quite confident of the national team’s prospects despite the loss of key spinners Saeed Ajmal and Mohammad Hafeez over illegal actions.
“We have all seen the India Tests and it gives us a good picture for how the pitches would be in Australia.”
“There is extra pace and bounce on Australian pitches but it is the trait of good professional cricketers to manage on different conditions.Most of the players are already aware of the conditions in Australia and New Zealand.”
