Calcutta: Pakistan began their World T20 campaign on an emphatic note on Wednesday night - their 55-run victory over Bangladesh was huge and convincing. Yet Shahid Afridi's boys, it seems, are determined not to grow complacent and have started preparing for Saturday's "big game" in the right earnest.
Few hours after defeating Bangladesh, the Pakistanis were back at the Eden on Thursday and practised for more than two hours. Though six key performers from Wednesday's outing, including captain Afridi opted for rest, the others toiled hard under the sun.
India, too, had an optional session almost during the same time. Having returned to Calcutta on Wednesday night after their disastrous campaign in Nagpur, the Indians mostly chose to stay back at the hotel. Three players - Suresh Raina, Ajinkya Rahane and Pawan Negi - practised for more than an hour.
India had suffered a humiliating 47-run defeat to New Zealand in the opener in Nagpur. The world's No.1 T20 side, which won the Asia Cup recently in Dhaka and back-to-back series against Australia and Sri Lanka, were skittled out for 79 in 18.1 overs. Barring Virat Kohli (23), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (30) and Ashwin (10), none of the other Indian batsmen could reach double figures in the match.
There was not much interaction between the players of the two teams though a few from the visiting side were spotted watching the Indians. Shoaib Malik and Raina exchanged pleasantries before returning to their respective nets.
They could be breathing down each others' necks on Saturday, but they showed great camaraderie at the Eden. Raina and Malik hugged and patted each other, making it a perfect photo opportunity ahead of Saturday clash.
Malik batted at nets for some time before joining the players for some drills. Malik later gave away a pair of gloves to Bengal under-19 bowler Rajeev Keshri.
Pakistan were without their captain and five others. The two top-order batsmen, opener Ahmed Shehzad and Mohammed Hafeez were also not there. Hafeez was the top scorer with 64 on Wednesday, while Shehzad contributed 52. The three fast bowlers - Mohammed Aamir, Mohammed Irfan and Wahab Riaz -were also missing from nets.
There was a pattern in Pakistan's practice. Anwar Ali was seen sending down quite a few yorkers to the batsmen. It could be a dress rehearsal to counter Jasprit Bumrah on Saturday night in front of a full house at the Eden. It was evident that Pakistan were gearing up to face the two Indians spinners - Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
An India-Pakistan match will be played on Indian soil for the first time in more than three years.
Former captains from both the countries - Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Inzamam-ul Huq - will be present at the Eden on Saturday. Amitabh Bachchan will sing India's national anthem, while Shafqat Amanat Ali will sing Pakistan's anthem.
Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee will be present and will speak on the occasion along with Imran, Sachin and Bachchan.
There is a huge demand for tickets for Saturday's game. Some ticket-seekers were seen waiting outside the Eden even at 9 in the morning. They had to go back disappointed since all tickets for his match would be sold online.
With the craze for tickets for the India-Pakistan World T20 game escalating with each day, unpleasant scenes on Thursday threatened to spoil the mood at the Cricket Association of Bengal. An online agency had been issuing tickets for the marquee game in the afternoon at the Netaji Indoor Stadium. All hell broke loose when it announced that no more tickets were available.
A section of life members, who hadn't renewed their membership, then launched an agitation. A senior CAB official tried to pacify them, but the agitators wouldn't relent.
The situation threatened to snowball into a major controversy before police intervened to somehow bring things under control.
The CAB, on its part, claimed that notices were put up, specifying March 15 as the deadline for renewal of membership. But the agitated members argued that such deadlines never existed earlier. The members, though, later got their tickets.
