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Indo-Pak fervour hits nation; fans glued to television sets for big game

Millions of cricket lovers chanting 'India, India' are sitting glued to their television screens for the high-voltage clash at the Adelaide Oval.

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Cricket fans across the country are excited as the defending champions play their first match of the World Cup 2015 against arch-rivals Pakistan in Australia on Sunday.

Millions of cricket lovers chanting 'India, India' are sitting glued to their television screens for the high-voltage clash at the Adelaide Oval. India has never lost a single match to Pakistan in the World Cup tournament. Even when Pakistan won the 1992 World Cup the team had lost to India in their only clash of the tournament.

On the eve of the big match on Saturday, the cricket fever also caught up Border Security Force (BSF) personnel as they played cricket in Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir and wished good luck to team India. "All of us from the BSF wish captain Dhoni and whole Indian team best of luck for the World Cup and they must bring the trophy back to India," said an official from BSF.

The refurbished 47,000-capacity Adelaide Oval is filled to the brim for the match and, according to organisers, tickets for the encounter were sold out in a mere 20 minutes. Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni is desperate to bounce back after the team lost a test series against Australia 2-0 and did not win a single match in the subsequent tri-series, also featuring England.

Also Read: India v/s Pakistan: Will be it be Sudhir's day or Bashir's?

However, sport lovers in Delhi were seen chanting 'India, India' hoping that the team would emerge victorious against Pakistan. "Unless India and Pakistan don't play a match, it doesn't seem like a World Cup. Whenever India and Pakistan played at the World Cup, India has never lost and this time also India will win," said a fan, Ramesh.

India won the 1983 and 2011 cricket World Cups, and fans are looking for another success this year. Meanwhile, in Ranchi, a group came out with a music video to boost the confidence of India and give a message that the country is supporting the men in blue.

Spotlight: Ultimately, Indo-Pak clash is THE match of the tournament: Venkatapathi Raju

"We would like the Indian team and the whole country to see our video where we are wishing team India good luck and we are waiting for the trophy to come back," said an artist of the music video, Dhananjay. Cricket enthusiasts have also painted their faces with the colours of the national flags to get into the mood.

However, some fans are cautious about India's prospects after the team was spanked by the World Cup hosts in their first warm-up match last week. "I hope that we win this time too but it's going to be a little difficult as Sachin is not there and the team didn't perform well before the World Cup. But now we have to see who is the most powerful," said a cricket fan, Ashish, from Bhopal.

Dhoni has called on his under-fire bowlers to "drastically improve" their discipline for their opening World Cup match, and mentioned it was imperative that his bowlers did not give away free scoring opportunities in the first 10 overs, when only two fielders are allowed outside the 30-yard circle.

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