Sachin, Virat and a new Zimbabwe

So now we know that a middle-aged man in Karachi, with hair greying by the sides and tummy protruding from under the t-shirt, will have to wait for at least another four years – unless of course India and Pakistan meet again at some stage of this World Cup – to see his favourite team break their duck against their archrivals from across the border.

For the sixth time in six different editions of the World Cup, Pakistan have failed to live up to the Indian challenge. It's not as if they have been any less fancied side than the Indians in any of these tournaments; because we all know that after losing against India the very first time in 1992, Pakistan went on to win their first global title and they managed to reach the final yet again in 1999 after suffering the same fate in the Super Six stage. Pakistan also hold a considerable edge in terms of head-to-head record in ODIs overall (72 to 51). So is there a psychological edge that the Indians enjoy over the Pakistanis when playing their 'most important match' at the biggest stage of ODI cricket? Or is it something else which still has not been traced?

Some people felt that since Sachin Tendulkar -- the one constant thorn in Pakistan's side right from 1992 till 2011 – has already retired, there may be a positive swing in Pakistan's fortune. But alas! A new avatar of Tendulkar, perhaps a bit more modern and even hungrier one, has arrived in the form of Virat Kohli.

While the India versus Pakistan encounter at the Adelaide Oval was catching the imagination of cricket lovers around the world, a heart-warming story all but made its way out of the Seddon Park in Hamilton, just across the Tasman Sea a few hours earlier, as Zimbabwe were making a game of a mammoth 340-run chase against South Africa.

What would have made a victory for Zimbabwe so spectacular is the lopsided nature of this completion, not only due to the gulf of difference in cricketing prowess but also due to the vastly different environment that these two teams go through. Despite never winning cricket's showpiece event, South Africa remain the predominant force in all forms of the game and they come into this tournament, like every other time since their inclusion in 1992, as one of the outright favourites. Zimbabwe, on the other hand, are a team which struggle to even keeping themselves afloat among the big boys. Beset by so many problems, not the least of which is the near-insolvency of the cricket board, the Zimbabwe team were expected to be one of the whipping boys of this tournament.

But the discipline they showed in the early part of South Africa innings and the fighting spirit when chasing the mammoth target, only gives hope that Zimbabwe cricket is not all lost. Of course the lack of experience and the lack of depth in both batting and bowling showed from time to time, but the approach and execution looked completely different to the one that had a bashing in Bangladesh only two months ago. By beating Sri Lanka in a warm-up match leading up to this tournament, Zimbabwe had given a bit of a warning to the big boys. Had those big boys not paid too much heed back then, they simply should now.