Morning everyone and welcome to the big one. India v Pakistan is basically the Manchester derby, if Manchester had a population of 1.6 billion.
The setting is Ahmedabad, which has what may well be the world’s second-biggest sports ground. The tickets are going for £250 and the boxes for £19,000, according to my colleague Anand Vasu. There are people wanting a room so badly that they’ve booked into hospital. There will be hardly any Pakistan supporters present because they haven’t been given visas, but hey, you can’t have everything.
Home advantage is on India’s side and so is the form book. These two teams have had seven meetings in ODI World Cups (from 1992 to 2019) and India have won the lot. Then again … Pakistan have a fine record against India in all ODIs, with 73 wins and only 56 defeats. And although the latest meeting, a month ago, was a walk in the park for India, both sides have begun this tournament in commanding fashion – played two, won two.
In any case the most important element today is not the result, this early in a rather rotund round-robin. It’s the margin of victory. We’re now 11 games into the World Cup and not one of them has been tight. The closest thing to a cliffhanger came when Pakistan played Sri Lanka, and they still cruised home by six wickets.
So any game will do as long as it gives us some drama. And if there’s one thing Pakistan can be relied upon to deliver…