"An opportunity to become a true great of the game" - Kapil Dev's advice on how to treat the India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup match
An India vs Pakistan encounter is the mother of all cricketing rivalries, and is also by far the biggest match of the World Cup. Every seat of the 70% permitted capacity will be taken and the demand for tickets is bordering on the extraordinary.
The question to ask then is straightforward: Is this match “just another game” as the players keep saying in pre and post match press conferences, or is it well and truly a very different match, which creates heroes who are subsequently celebrated back home for days and months?
Kapil Dev, one of the greatest to have played the sport, very emphatically calls it a “very different contest.”
“This is one game every cricketer wants to do well in. You know you will be an instant hero back home if you are able to win this contest for your team. People remember these performances and I keep saying to everyone I meet that it is not pressure. Rather, it is pleasure."
"You need to welcome the biggest stage. Enjoy the opportunity to perform at the biggest stage for only then can you be a real great. You should treat such matches as pleasure. India Pakistan contests offer you that opportunity to become a true great of the game.”
Kapil Dev vividly remembers two games against Pakistan in Sharjah. The first is obviously the Javed Miandad six of Chetan Sharma and the second is the most incredible Rothmans Cup match where India, after being bowled out for 125, bundled out Pakistan for 87 to record a famous victory.
“I will never forget these two matches. That’s what I am trying to tell you. This is a very different match and the high of winning this is different”, says Kapil.
"I'd want these two teams to play more against each other" - Clive Lloyd
Clive Lloyd, a West Indian cricket great, who has an objective view on the contest, concurs.
“Look there is no debate this is one of cricket’s marquee contests. It is like England v Australia and sometimes even bigger. Players just want to do that extra bit better in matches like these. As a sportsman I’d want these two teams to play more against each other and I’d also hope that some day they start playing bilateral cricket again. I say this only because I’d want to watch these matches for what they bring to the table”, says Clive.
The stage is all set for Sunday. For the first time in two years,it'ss India v Pakistan and for the first time in a year and a half we will have a near full house in a cricket stadium. Perhaps it is fitting that fans are making their way back to the stadium just in time for what is the most hyped match of this T20 World Cup.