'A game that's more than cricket'
Stephen Brenkley captures the buzz and he build-up ahead of India's semi-final clash against Pakistan in Mohali in the Independent .
Siddhartha Talya
25-Feb-2013
Stephen Brenkley captures the buzz and he build-up ahead of India's semi-final clash against Pakistan in Mohali in the Independent.
Relations between the neighbours remain at an all-time low, which is saying something considering that in the best part of 64 years they have never tilted towards the high scale. Between 1961 and 1978 they did not meet on the cricket field at all. Now, the political frisson and the proximity of Chandigarh to the Pakistan border, 150 miles away, has provoked rampant speculation about an influx of away fans, all desperately seeking last-minute visas and determined to reach Mohali at all costs.
Andy Bull gets a taste of Mohali and the frenzied lead-up to Wednesday's game. Here's what he has to say in the Guardian.
For "serious sporting rivalry", a phrase that is misplaced on many an occasion, fans ought to tune into the India-Pakistan semi-final on Wednesday, writes Jamie Corringan in the same newspaper.
Siddhartha Talya is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo