Summary Pakistan will face India in a high-voltage World Cup clash at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday.
ADELAIDE (AFP) - Cricket s version of a gladiatorial streetfight will play out on Sunday when defending champions India take on arch-rivals Pakistan in a high-voltage World Cup clash at the Adelaide Oval.
Millions of passionate fans across the world will follow the Pool B match which organisers said was sold out in 20 minutes despite an uninspiring build up by both teams.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni s India start their campaign desperate to bounce back after a miserable bilateral tour of Australia where they were beaten 2-0 in the Tests and did not win a match in the subsequent tri-series.
Pakistan have had their bowling attack decimated due to injuries and the reluctance to rush back one-day cricket s number one bowler Saeed Ajmal despite the off-spinner being cleared of a suspect action.
With seamers Umar Gul and Junaid Khan sidelined with injuries, Pakistan suffered a severe blow when the seasoned Mohammad Hafeez was ruled out of the tournament with a calf injury.
Lanky paceman Mohammad Irfan -- the tallest man to ever play international cricket at 7 feet, one inch -- will lead the bowling attack that includes leg-spinners Yasir Shah and Shahid Afridi.
With India in disarray, Pakistan will seek to end their winless World Cup streak against the neighbours -- five successive defeats since 1992 -- with renewed hope.
Skipper Misbah-ul Haq, who like Afridi will quit one-day cricket after the tournament, will be inspired by Pakistan s title under Imran Khan when the World Cup was played Down Under in 1992.
"If we play as well as we can, there is no reason why we can t win again," Misbah, 40, said when asked if his team can repeat the magic of 1992. "Where there is a will, there is a way."
Misbah, playing only his second World Cup, said he was determined to change his team s fortunes against India.
"What happened in the past will not count. There is no reason why we can t win," he said.
Pakistan go into the game under a cloud, however, after eight players -- including Afridi -- were fined for breaking a team curfew.
A winning start for either team will boost hopes of taking one of the four quarter-final spots from the pool which also includes mighty South Africa, the West Indies, Ireland, Zimbabwe and the United Arab Emirates.
In their last one-day meeting a year ago in the Asia Cup in Dhaka, Pakistan snatched a dramatic one-wicket win with two balls to spare after Afridi smashed Ravichandran Ashwin for two sixes in the final over.
Dhoni, 33, will hope his and his team s luck changes following the birth of his first child, a baby girl, in a New Delhi hospital a week before the tournament.
India will rely on their free-stroking batsmen to make up for a relatively modest bowling attack to put it across Pakistan in what is expected to be a run-laden pitch at the Adelaide Oval.
The current squad has just four players -- Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ashwin and Dhoni himself -- who were part of the winning combination four years ago.
But the nucleus of the side is the same which won the Champions Trophy one-day tournament in England in 2013 and finished runners-up to Sri Lanka in the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh last year.
In Rohit Sharma, the only batsman with two 200s in one-day internationals, Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Raina and Dhoni, India have the firepower to demolish the best attacks in the tournament.
But having lost their most experienced seamer Ishant Sharma with a knee injury, Dhoni may turn towards all-rounder Stuart Binny to balance at attack that has three frontline spinners, Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Akshar Patel.
