India vs Pakistan 2015 World Cup: The missing Tendulkar factor

Will Pakistan’s luck change in the absence of their nemesis?

In 1989, when the national selectors were unsure about exposing the 16-year-old Sachin Tendulkar to the Imran Khan-led pace battery, the selector from the West Zone, Naren Tamhane, said: “Sachin Tendulkar does not fail!”

Since a young age, Tendulkar has carried the expectations of a huge population. If you take Tamhane’s comments in context of India’s performance against Pakistan in World Cups, it fits perfectly. Not only has India won those five encounters, but Tendulkar has amassed 313 runs at an average of 78.25, with three fifties.

India and Pakistan played each other for the first time in a World Cup in the year 1992, which was also Tendulkar’s maiden experience on the big stage. He remains the only player to have featured in all the five matches the two teams have played against each other. To top it all, he has won Man of the Match Awards in three of those games. His lowest score against Pakistan in the World Cup is 31, which came in 1996 at Bangalore. The other sub-50 score was an important 45 at Manchester in 1999, an innings that came under great personal and physical stress as he was suffering from a back injury and had lost his father in the weeks before the game.

But, let us revisit some of the happier memories. In 1992, he 18-year-old smashed a crucial 54 not out to take India to a competitive score. He then rolled his arm over and got the important wicket of Aamer Sohail.

In 2003, he tore into Shoaib Akhtar, smashing him for that iconic upper-cut six over point. The other Pakistan bowlers also bore the brunt of his fury as he sped away to 98 off 75 balls. This was the first meeting between the two sides in almost three years and Tendulkar claimed to have had sleepless nights in the lead-up to the game.

The 2007 World Cup was a forgettable one for both sides as they crashed out of the first round and did not meet each other. But in 2011, they clashed at Mohali in the important semi-final. Tendulkar scripted 85, which was not his best knock. He was saved by Hawk Eye once, survived a stumping chance and was dropped on as many as five occasions. However, India managed to win the game and go through to the final. The rest as they say is history.

This would be the first time in history that an India-Pakistan World Cup game would be played without Tendulkar. For a generation of fans, this is would be an uncharted territory.

Will Pakistan’s luck change in the absence of their nemesis?

(Nishad Pai Vaidya is a Correspondent with CricketCountry and anchor for the site’s YouTube Channel. His Twitter handle is @nishad_45)