From the field, a message: It is not war, just a game

Once upon a time Indian and Pakistani players would eat together, exchange music cassettes and swap old cricketing chestnuts. Then go out in...

Once upon a time Indian and Pakistani players would eat together, exchange music cassettes and swap old cricketing chestnuts. Then go out in the middle and, responding to tribal cries from the public, set about murdering each other.

Call it professionalism, caution or sensitivity to non-cricketing matters, the talk today is ‘cool it, this is just another cricket match’. Saurav Ganguly, for one, has asked his players to curb their emotions while on the field as the ‘‘repercussions back home could be disastrous.’’

It isn’t, of course, just another match; it’s a do-or-die situation for Pakistan, while for India a win would secure a place in the Super Six. And the classic battle of talented batsmen against lethal bowlers has been given a dose of subcontinental masala by the arrival of the Indian Pace Brigade. Watch Waqar, Akram and Shoaib respond to that.

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Yet both teams appear keen to play down any non-cricketing sentiment attached to the match. Typically, Indian vice-captain Rahul Dravid, that epitome of detached cool, put it best when he said: ‘‘We aren’t here to make any political statements. We are professionals who have an important World Cup game tomorrow. We have a job to do and that is our only focus.’’

It’s an eight-point game, Dravid said; win tomorrow and India get four points for this pool and four they can carry into the Super Six (as they would have beaten all other possible qualifiers bar Australia).

His captain Saurav Ganguly emphasised the same point: It will be ‘‘just another game’’ for them, he said, exactly as he might have when facing the Zimbabweans, the English or even the Namibians.

And he was careful to avoid being drawn into any direct pre-confrontation. Asked about Wasim Akram’s statement of ‘‘Indians being scared of Pakistan and thus avoiding playing us’’, he artfully sidestepped the question.

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His counterpart Waqar Younis was blunt, though, when discussing his keenness to get on with the game tomorrow and forget the tension at the border or the bonhomie between the two teams. ‘‘I don’t know what the two governments are up to, the key for me is victory tomorrow,’’ he said.

He admitted though, that public expectations were high — ‘‘I’ve received countless phone calls from home’’ — but insisted that the identity of the opponents made little difference. ‘‘Whoever we’d be playing we are in a must-win situation and if the opponents are India I really can’t help it.’’

That the friendliness of old — when Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja would socialise with the Pakistanis — has taken on a hard-nosed edge was made clear by Pakistan team manager Samiul Hasan — the two teams haven’t had any interaction.

Part of this is due, of course, to the fact that many of the players have never played each other: The last time the two teams met was in June, 2000. What also helps reduce pressure is that both teams are playing away from home. As Dravid pointed out, ‘‘Since we hardly get any news from back home it has worked well for us.’’