AHMEDABAD: Pakis­tan would be forgiven for feeling like gladiators thrown into the Colosseum when they face an Indian team egged on by 100,000-plus fans in Saturday’s World Cup blockbuster, but skipper Babar Azam sees the match as a chance to end a jinx against their arch-rivals.

Two-time champions India have a perfect 7-0 record against Pakistan in the 50-overs World Cup and are also the top-ranked ODI team, who have won both their games in the tournament so far.

But Pakistan also have two wins from two at the World Cup after seeing off the Netherlands and Sri Lanka, and Babar is approaching the tournament’s most-anticipated clash at the Narendra Modi Stadium, the world’s largest cricket venue, with a complete disregard for the past.

“I don’t think about the past, I’d rather focus on future,” Babar told reporters with a wry smile on his face on Friday. “All records are meant to be broken, and we’ll try to break this record tomorrow.”

Under Babar, Pakistan broke a Twenty20 World Cup sequence of five defeats (from 2007 to 2016) against India with a 10-wicket rout at Dubai in 2021.

“Didn’t we break the Twenty20 record? I am not worried about the past. It boils down to how you perform on the day of the match. We have done pretty well in the first two matches, and I have full belief we’ll do well in the next match as well.”

Part of how they perform will depend on how his team-mates manage to deal with the pressure of the game’s fiercest rivalry played out in the den of their cricketing foes.

Babar said his message to his team-mates was to see it as an opportunity to perform well and etch their names into the memories of those watching back home.

“India-Pakistan match is a big game, a high-intensity contest. I’ve told my boys it’s a great opportunity — give your best, execute your plans and believe in yourself,” added Babar, a survivor of the 2019 World Cup clash in Manchester which India won by 89 runs.

“It’s a massive stadium, and there would be big crowd. This is a golden opportunity for us to perform in front of such a big crowd.”

Babar also shrugged off the prospect of having virtually all of the 132,000 spectators screaming support for India with no Pakistan fans having been successful in securing visas to cross the border.

“It’s not pressure,” said Babar. “We have played at big stadiums like at the MCG [Melbourne Cricket Ground]. But, yes, all the support, I think, in Ahmedabad will be for India. It would have been better had Pakistan fans been allowed. But I expect fans will also support us as well.”

Pakistan fans from around the world have faced visa glitches due to strained relations between the two countries, who have not played a bilateral cricket series since 2007.

Pakistan did tour India for limited-over matches in 2012 but that did not revive full tours which stalled in the wake of the Mumbai attacks in 2008.

Babar admitted conditions in Ahmedabad are different from those at Hyderabad where Pakistan played two warm-up matches and their first two World Cup games.

“Yes, the conditions here are different,” said Babar, whose team beat the Netherlands by 81 runs and Sri Lanka by six wickets. “You are better off at a venue where you have spent a few days but we will adapt.”

Pakistan’s fortunes could depend on pace spearhead Shaheen Afridi, who has troubled India’s top order in recent encounters between the rivals.

His workload has increased after his new-ball partner Naseem Shah was ruled out of the tournament with a shoulder injury but Babar has faith in Afridi.

“He’s our best bowler, a champion bowler,” Babar said of the left-arm quick. “I believe he’s a big-match bowler, who always gives his best on big occasions. For us, it does not matter if he does not get wickets in a match or two, it does not put a question mark against him.”

GILL ‘99 PERCENT’ READY FOR RETURN

India skipper Rohit Sharma, meanwhile, said his team remains confident going into the clash, adding opener Shubman Gill is in the frame to return for Saturday’s blockbuster.

Gill is the leading run-getter in One-day Interna­tionals this year but missed India’s victories against Australia and Afghanistan as he continued his recovery from dengue.

The elegant right-hander returned to the nets on Thursday and Sharma was optimistic of having his opening partner back for the tournament’s most anticipated match.

“99% he’s available,” he told reporters on the eve of the hotly-anticipated match without elaborating even after being pressed.

In Gill’s absence, Ishan Kishan opened with Rohit and scored a duck against Australia in Chennai and 47 against Afghanistan in New Delhi.

Rohit said the team has momentum after they won the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka and then beat Australia in a three-match series before the World Cup.

“Rhythm is very important. If you look at it in other terms, it is called momentum,” he said. “We have played seven or eight matches in India and before that in Sri Lanka and here too we played two matches of the World Cup.

“The bowlers have shown very good performances. Whether it is spinners or seamers, whenever they have got a chance to put pressure on the batsmen, they have done so. All the batsmen have scored runs.”

Sharma said he doesn’t read too much into India’s unblemished World Cup record against Pakistan and warned against underestimating their “quality opponent”.

“I’m not a person who looks into those stats. You got to play good cricket on that particular day to win the game,” he said. “That is what we’ll be focusing on — how we can play good cricket, which is understanding the conditions, what is required from the team’s perspective, and things like that.”

India crushed Pakistan by 228 runs in the Asia Cup Super Four contest — their last ODI meeting — in Colombo last month but Rohit did not think they would carry any psychological advantage from that outcome.

“I don’t believe in these things,” the opener said. “As a team, we can’t be focusing on past. It will be a fresh day, a fresh contest, against a quality opposition. I believe both teams start even. There will be no favourite or underdog tomorrow.”

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2023