Cricket ties with India and Pakistan always hava been a crowd puller and this time once again the defending champions India will be aiming to shut out off-field controversies when they lock horns with arch-rivals Pakistan in their ICC Champions Trophy opener — a marquee contest where tension and drama is never in short supply. India has line up that boasts of good batting talent and Pakistan has one of the finest fast bowlers of current times, so it could turn out to be a battle primarily between India’s vaunted batting line-up against Pakistan’s potent bowling attack. What Indians have advantage is the English conditions, despite Edgbaston showing signs of being a batting-friendly track, it will be testing time for the Indian batsmen. India always enjoyed playing under English conditions whether it is the first World Cup for India under Kapil Dev’s captaincy or other limited over matches. Switching to ODIs after the Indian Premier League will actually help batsmen as they will get more time to settle down. Holders India, South Africa, hosts England, Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are in the fray. With Pakistan’s top-order full of right-handers, Indian spinners will have a tough battle among themselves to make into the team. Like it or not, an Indo-Pak match is a bit different from other cricketing rivalries purely due to its socio-political significance. The current cross-border tension between the South Asian neighbours also adds its distinct colour to the historical rivalry in which India has come up trumps more often than not in global competitions. For cricketers, it’s just “another match” but for the die-hard fans, a win is not everything but the only thing that they expect from their heroes. The match would test the maturity of Virat Kohli as a captain than the batsman. The unsavoury controversy related to his speculated rift with chief coach Anil Kumble couldn’t have happened at a more inappropriate time — just when India were going into an important ICC event. But Indian teams of the past have shown that off-field issues become inconsequential, the moment they cross the boundary rope.
