Man-of-the-match Naveed Latif in action at the Eden on Saturday. Picture by Santosh Ghosh

Calcutta, Dec. 27: A few things in life do not change with time. The excitement that comes attached with an India versus Pakistan match seems to be one of them.

True, it’s only a battle between A sides. True, India have already made the final of the Kenstar Asian A championship — but still the long queues in front of the Mohammedan Sporting counter on Saturday afternoon only showed that the cricket fans of the city won’t be keeping themselves away from the Eden Gardens on Sunday.

They can be assured of the fact that they will see a wounded Pakistan fighting for every inch to assure a place in the title-round. And everyone knows how hard Pakistan can hit back once they are pushed to the wall.

What Shahid Afridi said after a thumping win against Sri Lanka on Saturday is a fair pointer to the fact that they will leave no stones unturned to stake a claim at the trophy.

“We don’t have a choice… we will have to fire on all cylinders tomorrow to make the final,” Afridi said. Pakistan have looked a better side as the tournament has progressed and the captain wants this to carry on.

“Keeping wickets in hand towards the death overs is something mandatory. And for that I won’t mind being a little cautious in the first 15,” the captain said.Afridi made it clear that he will be back as opener. He batted at No. 5 against Sri Lanka.

Coach Naveed Anjum believes Afridi coming down the order against India will not send the right signals to the opposition camp. “If he fires…” Anjum hoped.

Former Pakistan opener Imran Nazir, however, will struggle to make the final XI. “We would have liked to play him, but then he is not fully fit,” Afridi said. Pakistan are likely to make one change to the XI that won against Sri Lanka. Rouf Khan is likely to be back in place of Mohammed Irshad.

The coach informed they would like to bat first in spite of the fact that the wicket will do a bit in the morning session. “It’s a big match, so it’s better to set a total than chase one,” the coach added.The Indians on the other hand plan to effect a few changes to the team that won against Sri Lanka on Friday. Mohammed Kaif, it was learnt, has a strain in the thumb and he will be rested with the final and the forthcoming Australia tour in mind.

“He was taken to the nursing home, though nothing serious has been reported,” said coach Sandeep Patil. It was later learnt that Kaif has been advised to skip the final too.

Bengal captain Rohan Gavaskar looks the frontrunner to take Kaif’s place in the XI. Gujarat medium-pacer Siddharth Trivedi may just get a game with Munaf Patel getting a rest.

“India-Pakistan is always a big game, so there’s no question of complacency,” Patil said.India decided to take a day off on Saturday and preferred to stay indoors. “But make no mistake, we’ll be playing it hard tomorrow to deny Pakistan a place in the finals,” the coach signed off.

LIKELY TEAMS

India: Gautam Gambhir, Sanjay Bangar, Hemang Badani, Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Mongia, Rohan Gavaskar, Sairaj Bahutule, Ajay Ratra, Siddharth Trivedi, Amit Bhandari, Sarandeep Singh.

Pakistan: Salman Butt, Mohammed Hafeez, Saeed Bin Nazir, Faisal Iqbal, Shahid Afridi, Naveed Latif, Bilal Asad, Amin-ur Rehman, Mansoor Amjad, Mohammed Khalil, Rouf Khan.