India vs Pakistan, World Cup 2023 preview: Men in Blue aim to extend streak against arch-rivals to 8-0 in Ahmedabad

India vs Pakistan. In the World Cup, at the largest stadium of them all. It certainly doesn’t get any bigger than this in cricket. It also rarely gets bigger than this across all sport.

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The two south Asian nuclear-armed nations, after all, share a rivalry that is not only right up there with the Ashes in cricket, but is counted among the greatest across all sport — a list that includes ‘El Clasico’, Maple Leafs vs Canadiens, Lakers vs Celtics, United vs Liverpool, All Blacks vs Springboks among others.

While Pakistan have had the edge over India in both Tests as well as in ODIs, leading 73-56 in the latter, the rivalry is quite lopsided when it comes to World Cups. India lead Pakistan 6-1 in T20 World Cups, with their only defeat coming in Dubai in the 2021 edition.

As for the ODI World Cups, India have won each of their seven encounters since they first met in Sydney, 1992, and will be hoping to extend that streak come Sunday.

Rohit hints at Gill’s return

India have got their campaign off to an ideal start with two wins in as many outings, including a six-wicket victory over five-time champions Australia in their opening game. They did so, however, without the services of their most consistent performer with the bat this year — Shubman Gill.

Gill, after all, had contracted dengue shortly before the Australia match, and would end up missing the opener as well as the subsequent fixture against Afghanistan — which the Men in Blue would end up winning by eight wickets powered by a record-breaking ton from skipper Rohit Sharma.

Read | India vs Pakistan World Cup rivalry in numbers

Ishan Kishan featured as Rohit’s opening partner in both matches, getting dismissed for a golden duck off Mitchell Starc’s bowling on Sunday before playing second fiddle to ‘Hitman’ on Wednesday with a run-a-ball 47.

On Saturday, though, Kishan is expected to make way for Gill with the Indian skipper hinting at the latter returning to the XI for the blockbuster clash.

“Shubman Gill is 99 per cent available, we will see tomorrow,” Rohit told reporters on the eve of the match.

Gill had to be taken to a hospital as a precautionary measure at one point after his platelet count dropped sharply, but has since shown great recovery in his health and was seen training at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium on Friday.

The Indian top-order had feasted on Pakistan’s much-vaunted attack the last time two sides had squared off — in the Asia Cup Super Four meeting in Colombo last month — and the opening pair will fancy their chances against the new-ball pair of Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf on an Ahmedabad wicket known for being quite the batter’s paradise.

No pressure, insists Babar

If there’s one question Pakistanis have to put up with every time their team faces India in a World Cup match, it is about their inability to beat their arch-rivals in cricket’s showpiece event.

Babar had briefly managed to silence Indian journalists and fans by leading his team to a clinical victory in Dubai in the 2021 T20 World Cup, ending the jinx in that tournament.

Read | Recap of Pakistan’s seven World Cup defeats against India

He did however, find himself being reminded of the 0-7 record during Friday’s press conference on the eve of the high-voltage encounter.

“Beating India had not happened even before T20 WC in 2021, so there is always a first time.

“I don’t focus on the records or on the past. Our team has been doing well. This kind of record is meant to be broken. Hope it happens tomorrow,” is what Babar said in reply.

Like India, Pakistan enter this contest on the back of two wins in as many outings. They registered an 81-run victory over Netherlands in their opening game, but it was the nerves of steel that the pair of Mohammad Rizwan and Abdullah Shafique displayed in the record chase against Sri Lanka on Tuesday that truly cemented their status as one of the teams to watch out for in this World Cup.

Shafique made the most of the opportunity handed to him after the team management decided to bench the struggling Fakhar Zaman, and it appears he’ll remain their first-choice opener for quite a few matches going forward, including Saturday’s clash against India.

IND vs PAK | Kohli vs Rauf, Rohit vs Afridi and other player battles

Babar’s form, though, has been something of a worry; he has scored a sum total of 71 runs in his last five outings at an average of 14.50, and will be hoping to bounce back to form and lead his team from the front against the Indian attack led by Jasprit Bumrah.

“My World Cup till right now has not been as it should have been – but hopefully you will see some difference in the next matches. Against India, we only come face to face in the World Cup. There is a big gap.

“It’s not that because of a bowler or… I say that I sometimes get out because of my mistake. I try to make as few mistakes as possible,” Babar added in the presser.

India vs Pakistan head-to-head

The two teams have squared off a total of seven times in the ODI World Cups since they first met in Sydney in the 1992 edition, with India winning every single encounter. In their most recent World Cup meeting in Manchester in 2019, the Men in Blue emerged victors by 89 runs in a rain-affected encounter.

Squads:

India: Rohit Sharma(c), Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Shubman Gill, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Suryakumar Yadav

Pakistan: Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam(c), Mohammad Rizwan(wk), Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Agha Salman, Fakhar Zaman, Usama Mir, Mohammad Wasim Jr

LIVE Coverage: Catch all the live action of the India vs Pakistan ICC World Cup match on the Star Sports network. You can also tune into the live stream on Disney+ Hotstar.