DUBAI (Reuters) – Past winners India and Pakistan will look off on Sunday in a Twenty20 World Cup blockbuster in Dubai and the buzzing over the game highlights the lasting interest of the matchup between the subcontinent’s fighting neighbors.
India captain Virat Kohli and Pakistan equivalent Babar Azam have named it just a new game, but that is obviously not the case.
The nuclear-armed neighbors have got away to battle three times ever since achieving freedom from British foreign rule in the mid-20th century and staying at Caretta over Kashmir.
India last hosted Pakistan in a mutual series in 2013 and the teams now meet up only in mega-events, the last has been the 2019 ODI World Cup in England.
“I was interested in the games in 2014 and 2016. If you put me, as a player, it was every time a high-pressure game,” former India player Suresh Raina entered for the International Cricket Council (ICC) website on Saturday.
“In the make-up, everybody is just saying you how big it is.”
“The fans have loved this competition over the years, and it is cricket at its best.”
The 17,500 tickets for the big game have been sold out hours after staying put on sale and television channels in both countries are running different displays on the match.
“My inbox is filled with applications for match passes,” Dubai entrepreneur Anis Sajan, who had a franchise in United Arab Emirates’ domestic T10 competition led by England captain Eoin Morgan, told Reuters. “I’d say an India-Pakistan match is bigger than the Ashes.
“It might get turn into one-sided of late but feelings run high,” Sajan, vice leader of the Dubai-based Danube Group, said stating to India’s 12-0 record versus Pakistan in cricket World Cups.
“The India-Pakistan clash is one of the greatest match-ups in the world of sports,” Sanjog Gupta, Head of Sports at Indian Sports Channel, said in a report.
“The clash at an ICC event appeals core group and everyday cricket fans as well as viewers who don’t watch any other cricket.”
The scheduling of the game poses a catch for fans like Debasish Sarkar who does not mean to miss Sunday’s other confrontation between two arch-rivals, Manchester United and Liverpool in soccer’s Premier League.
“It’s a difficult choice for somebody like me who’s so mad around cricket and the Premier League,” Sarkar, a manager with a global cyber protection software company, said from Kolkata.
“I’ll most possibly have the India-Pakistan match on television and follow football on my mobile. I can’t have enough money to miss either.”