For millions of cricket fans around the world, the World Cup kicked off on Saturday, but for millions of Asian cricket fans, the tournament will reach its zenith on Sunday. In fact, for hundreds of thousands of them, the competition will be over by afternoon.

The Pakistan-India clash is virtually the World Cup final; other games don’t matter to them.

No kind of politics — Obama, Modi, Nawaz — or catastrophes and storms hold a dime’s worth to the electrifying clash of the arch rivals at Adelaide today.

Just what the big match means to the two teams?

M.S. Dhoni’s men — bruised, battered and thrashed in the entire Australia tour and maligned by public and the press back home — desperately need a win that will erase all bad memories and guarantee a tumultuous welcome in India, even if they fail to win a single game beyond the Pakistan fixture.

A defeat…they just don’t want to think about it, and the horrible consequences.

Misbah-ul-Haq’s army, on the other hand, are breathing a lot easier. They have never gone past India in a World Cup game and if a similar fate comes their way this time, they will be vociferously condemned for not being good enough to break the jinx, or simply sixth time unlucky.

A win, though, will make them heroes like never before. Misbah, at 40, will be endorsed for another twenty years in the game as skipper, no questions asked. Shahid Afridi and Younis Khan can rest assured of being granted a lifetime in the game while the young brigade could play unchanged till the next World Cup.

All in lighter vein, but now a reality check.

Man to man, Pakistan are a better side on the dint of what they have achieved over the past week. They have stumped their worst critics by winning both their warm-ups and are looking more determined than ever to alter the equation against India this time round.

The bowling, after the early setbacks and hiccups, is finally in the groove and looks more potent than the opposition. Between a Goliath-like Mohammad Irfan and pygmy Yasir Shah, the greenshirts have two bowlers who could have lethal impact in today’s contest.

The mercurial Sohaib Maqsood, whose wrist power is back after a forced hiatus, and the dashing Umar Akmal could unleash a flurry of boundaries and sixes to ruffle the Indians at any juncture of the innings.

SHORT OF CONFIDENCE: India, though boasting big names, are low on confidence as their best batsman Virat Kohli has been struggling to put together a score of 30-plus on the board. Only Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane stand tall and promise to deliver.

The less said of India’s bowling the better. Dubbed as worse than a club side by Indian Express, only Ravinder Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin manage to bring some method to the madness afflicting the squad.

The toss will once again be crucial. But much more than that, holding nerves will be the key. We will know today who are the mice and who are the men.

Published in Dawn, February 15th, 2015

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