The frenzy of cricket has caught on to fans in India ahead of the India-Pakistan match in the ongoing Twenty20 Cricket World Cup in Colombo.Cricket fans in different parts of the country will catch the on- field action on Sunday evening.
Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni wants his batsmen to throw caution to the wind and play their natural attacking game in crucial match against Pakistan to revive their stuttering World Twenty20 campaign.
In New Delhi, fans are enthralled and hope that India would win the match.
Cricketer Yuvraj Singh's fans are looking forward to watch his first match against archrival Pakistan after his comeback from the battle against cancer.
“You all know that everybody wants to watch an India-Pakistan match and there is lot of excitement. We are very excited to watch it this evening, and we all know that India will win it for sure. India will win the match. All the best India, Yuvraj you can do it man. And do give out six sixes,” Anuj Gupta, a Team India cricket fan, said.
India's performance in the tournament has been bleak, as they had lost to Australia in their opening match of the Super Eight series on Friday.
India's performance in earlier matches against teams like Afghanistan has also not been satisfactory and has raised questions on their campaign for this tournament.
The fans, however, are not perturbed by all this and are pinning their hopes on India for today's match.
“It does not matter. Everyone is hoping for India to win, so India is going to win,” said Shubhangi Singh, another Team India cricket fan.
India also lost the warm-up match against Pakistan in the tournament and Dhoni was aware of the weight of expectation from the country when they play their neighbours.
Pakistan also loaded their team with spinners against South Africa on Friday, but captain Mohammad Hafeez said that the team was yet to decide on its combination against India
Speaking to reporters, Bollywood actor Rahul Bose said that at the end of the day, one team has to lose while other emerges a winner.
“The system of T20 is a system of luck. All the teams are capable on almost the same level. But someone either wins or loses in a day. So I would appeal to the people not to take it emotionally. If India loses they are still trying their best. That is the nature of T20,” he said.
Another Bollywood actress Bipasha Basu wished Team India ahead of the game.
“All the best India. India rocks,” she said.
The India-Pakistan game frenzy has also caught on to fans in Dhoni's hometown Ranchi.
Fans and priests performed traditional fire sacrifice and offered prayers at a local temple dedicated to Lord Hanuman.
Priest at Acharya Krishna temple said that the sacrifice was being performed so that India emerges victorious against Pakistan.
“This sacrifice will lead to a good start of the T20 World Cup. Today India plays against archrival Pakistan. Our Dhoni is the pride of Jharkhand and India. This is so that Dhoni's team wins and there is happiness everywhere,” he said.
Cricket matches between the two countries have always been a high voltage affair with emotions running high on both sides.
Compared to India's performance in the tournament so far, Pakistan has been fairing well with them crushing Australia in their last Super Eight series match.
India has never lost a match against Pakistan in any edition of the cricket World Cup or the Twenty20 World Cup version.
Between them, India and Pakistan won the first two editions of the T20 men's event in 2007 and 2009 respectively.
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