World Cup: All Eyes on India-Pakistan Tie
School students in Chennai stand around a huge cut-out of the ICC Cricket World Cup trophy on Feb. 12 as cricket fever rose across the country. (Getty Images)
Adelaide, Australia: When India plays Pakistan at the Cricket World Cup, it’s no cliché when both captains say they’re not looking beyond their first game of the tournament.
World Cup organizers are tipping Indo-Pak VI to draw the biggest television audience for a cricket match when the teams meet Sunday in Adelaide in their opening games in Pool B.
The uneasy neighbors politically also have a long rivalry on the cricket field, with Pakistan leading overall in their limited-overs meetings. But defending champion India has a 100-percent record so far in their five World Cup clashes.
The great Sachin Tendulkar, who played for India in all five of those wins over Pakistan back to 1992 – the last time the World Cup was jointly staged by Australia and New Zealand – said the atmosphere was intense and couldn’t be compared with any other game.
Tendulkar recalled a 2003 World Cup match against Pakistan in his autobiography, saying he’d waited for the showdown for a full year after the schedule was unveiled and couldn’t sleep for several nights before the match.
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