MUMBAI – World Cup fever struck India seriously the moment it became apparent that the co-hosts would meet Pakistan in the second semi-final in Mohali this Wednesday. Yuvraj Singh’s boundary off Brett Lee to win India’s quarter-final against defending champions Australia last Thursday sparked national euphoria.
It also relegated Tuesday’s first semi-final between 1996 champions Sri Lanka and New Zealand in Colombo to the status of a sideshow. For the first time three Asian teams will contest the semi-finals while the India-Pakistan clash will be the first in India since 166 people were killed in Mumbai in 2008.
India has blamed Pakistan-based militants for the attacks. The two countries have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947 and relations have been tense since the Mumbai carnage.
They have subsequently agreed to resume formal peace talks and on Sunday it was announced that Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani had accepted an invitation from his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh to attend Wednesday’s match in the northern Indian town of Mohali.
On the cricket pitch the rivalry has been intense and, according to the Indian historian and cricket writer Ramachandra Guha, the television audience when India’s Sachin Tendulkar faced the former Pakistan bowler Wasim Akram exceeded the entire population of Europe.
Tendulkar, one century away from a scarcely believable 100 international hundreds, will face the new ball again on Wednesday before 30,000 spectators in the Chandigarh stadium. He has already scored centuries against England and South Africa in the tournament, although India took only one point away from both those matches.
Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag, who scored 175 in the opening match against Bangladesh, head a batting line-up of awesome potential which will face a versatile and successful Pakistan attack in a classic one-day confrontation. Much of the credit for Pakistan’s progress in the tournament goes to captain Shahid Afridi, who has created unity from discord while bowling his brisk wrist spin to devastating effect.
