RIVALS TOGETHER AGAIN ... PAKISTAN VS INDIA

There has been so much hype about this game that it's important we put it in perspective. It is, after all, only the biggest game in cricket history. The fact that the winners go through to a World Cup final is almost incidental.    This is India vs Pakistan.

Everybody wants to win cricket matches, but it's hard to imagine that anybody has ever needed to win a match as much as these sides today. Take the thing you have needed the most in your life. There is an obvious concern that it will kick off, and at least one of the losing team will probably have their house stoned tonight, but hopefully the cricket will take precedence. Both sides have otherworldly talents.

It's hard to script a sports drama more intense than this: Two nations that are bitter rivals and have fought three wars are about to play their biggest match yet in the sport they both love more than any other on the game's biggest stage—and just as their leaders try to get peace talks off the ground.

That will be the scene when India faces Pakistan in the semifinals of cricket's World Cup in the Indian city of Mohali.

A victory for Pakistan would move the country a step closer to displacing Australia as the world's dominant cricket power. An Indian  win would not only be a huge upset, it could assure the nation's fans that its team shouldn't be defined by the bad performances it sometimes turns purely a matter of luck.The winner will face Sri Lanka or New Zealand in the final in Mumbai on Saturday.

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