Group items tagged

For once, India and Pakistan will not be playing on an island. India-Pakistan matches are usually separate events within the main event, oblivious to the larger picture of the tournament, but this game doesn't seem to be the usual matter of life and death. For once, this match, though the first big clash of the Champions Trophy in terms of traditional rivals coming face to face, is more about the cricket. What's helped is the tight draw in the tournament format. Pakistan, who have been more vocal in setting up the match (Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul and Younis Khan have been quoted on how badly they want to beat India), will know only net run-rate can keep them out of semi-finals if they win this match. India, blighted by injuries to Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan, have a year and a half of good work done in ODIs to defend. A loss in their opening match will leave them needing to beat Australia and possibly run-rate calculations to go their way.

India play Pakistan in the fourth game of the Asia Cup at Dambulla. The Indians had made mincemeat of Bangladesh in the first game of the tournament, whereas Pakistan had lost a narrow game to Sri Lanka first up, after they had batted second, under the lights....

"India play Pakistan in the fourth game of the Asia Cup at Dambulla. The Indians had made mincemeat of Bangladesh in the first game of the tournament, whereas Pakistan had lost a narrow game to Sri Lanka first up, after they had batted second, under the lights"