When India play Pakistan, it is of course an encounter of skill; but just as much it is a test of temperament, expectation and fear. You must want to be there, you must revel in the gladiatorial aspect of the occasion but you must be calm for it is only then that you can summon the skills you possess. To be taken in by the occasion, to be afraid of the result is to invite defeat. It tests you as a person as it tests you as a cricketer.
Few sporting contests acquire a context way beyond what merely happens on a ground. And yet, it is really just a cricket match played by very young people. I have heard it likened to a war and I have rarely heard anything sillier than that. It is a cricket match. Yes there is tension and fear, yes the expectations can weigh you down or buoy you up but after the 4th of June, there will be other cricket matches. India will play again on the 8th and Pakistan a day earlier on the 7th and the world will move on.
In recent years, India have had the edge over Pakistan; in the few games that they do end up playing. It wasn't always like that and that is why people who remember the era when Pakistan always seemed to find someone to bring the match home, still look towards the smallest sparks there and imagine them to be blazing lights. I sometimes wonder whether that generation now rates Pakistan higher than most Pakistanis do themselves.
Pakistan
The batting is capable, particularly with 22-year-old Babar Azam riding on good form and veteran allrounder Shoaib Malik in strong nick at both international and domestic level. If the recalled former captain Azhar Ali can add strong starts up front, there will be cushion for Pakistan's outrageously talented but mercurial pace-bowling attack. There will be plenty of eyes on Mohammad Amir as he returns to England where he was exposed as a spot-fixer seven summers ago. Pakistan have never won the tournament - only twice have they made the semi-finals, losing both times - and in the last edition four years ago in England lost each of their three matches. Their opponents first up are India, who hammered them in the 2013 edition of the tournament and who since then have beaten them in all contests to extend their dominance to 11 wins in ICC tournaments.
SQUAD: Sarfraz Ahmed (capt/wk), Ahmed Shehzad, Azhar Ali, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Fahim Ashraf, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Hafiz, Mohammad Amir, Junaid Khan, Shadab Khan, Hasan Ali, Wahab Riaz, Fakhar Zaman.
India
When India ended a two-week delay and revealed its squad, it banked on experienced 50-over format players to defend the trophy rather than going on the form of aspirant cricketers from its glamorous Twenty20 premier league. Ravichandran Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rohit Sharma, Umesh Yadav, and Dinesh Karthik all were part of the 2013 winning squad. ``We respect the IPL, but when it comes to the longer formats and when it comes to the English conditions we have looked at performances over the last year,'' chief selector MSK Prasad said. ``And the experience. Experience is of paramount importance.'' India beefed up its middle-order batting by recalling Yuvraj Singh, who last played in the tournament in 2006. Dhawan, the left-handed opening batsman, was player of the 2013 championship, also held in England, and in Kumar and Bumrah, India's fast bowling looks as lethal as any other team's. India is a hot favorite to make it to the semifinals from Group B, which also includes Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and South Africa.
SQUAD: Virat Kohli (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Dinesh Karthik