Under-19 World Cup: India vs. Pakistan - A different ball game

How often does the arch rivals’ clash excite you?

Be it Federer vs. Nadal in Tennis or Manchester United vs. Manchester City in Football or Saina Nehwal vs. the China wall equation in Badminton or India vs Pakistan in cricket. Loyalty, possessiveness or devotion: however you term it; there lies something to catch your attention with, no matter how uniformly busy or awry you are.

But can you pinpoint what exactly that thing is?

Fans from India and Pakistan

Answer, certainly, is NO. You may say it’s the dominance, game plan, ability or team combination. Though, that is not the case here. Neither the statistics nor the trivia has something to do with it.

You may travel effortlessly to cheer your team and even prioritize match highlights over studies. Or, worst, take sick leave from your office. But is that all to watch your team playing? Nothing else to mention about?

Agree that victory and defeat does matter. And it somehow has an impact on us, too. But isn’t that a personal touch you associate with them in every game?

Doesn’t that Javed Miandad’s last ball six off Chetan Sharma in 1986 bother you, even today? Remember Shanthakumaran Sreesanth’s catch at short fine-leg to dismiss Misbah-ul-Haq off the bowling of Joginder Sharma in the 2007 T20 WC Final? And how crucial was Sachin Tendulkar for both the teams in that tensed semi-final of the 2011 World Cup?

There’s a charm in Gautam Gambhir-Umar Akmal and Harbhajan Singh-Shoaib Akhtar verbal fights. The pace of Imran Khan, Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram on which a generation of Indian batting danced on. Sehwag’s reply, in context with Sachin Tendulkar and Shoaib Akhtar, to Shah Rukh Khan at a sports event: “Beta, beta hota hai…aur baap, baap” proclaimed the intensity of Indo-Pak series.

It’s the ‘I can relate’ kind of nervousness that draws you in. It’s not ‘winning with a margin’ that lets you shout out loud, but how graciously the opponent is defeated.

It’s a different sort of enthusiasm when India plays against Pakistan. It’s a completely different ball game irrespective of the format or the age group.

The last time these two met was in the U19 Asia Cup final at Sharjah this year, where India registered a comprehensive victory by 40 runs. So far, they have played seven matches against each other in the U19 World Cup, with India winning 2 of them.

While India lost both its warm-up matches against South Africa and Sri Lanka by 5 wickets, Pakistan managed to register comfortable victories against UAE and Australia.

The Vijay Zol-led Indian side will begin their U-19 campaign against Pakistan on February 15, 2014. Let’s see how these young guns take to the big occasion.