Colombo, Sept 30 (ANI): As the crescendo builds ahead of the crucial Super Eights tie between India and Pakistan in the ongoing T20 World Cup here, fans of the two nations sounded confident of their respective team's chances against each other.
Fans of both the nations, dressed in colourful attire are thronging the roads leading to R. Premadasa stadium here.
Interacting with mediapersons here, Satish Patel, a member of India's Bharat Army-created on the lines of England's Barmy Army-exuded optimism ahead of the match.
Patel, who has come to cheer for India from London, said, "India is great. We will reach the finals and win. It doesn't matter if we have lost one match, we will win the finals."
Another member of the group, also hailing from London, said, "It will be a tough match. India have started ok, a bit of an upset against Australia (notwithstanding). We have a very good record against Pakistan in World Cups, so I am pretty hopeful that we can win."
Also dressed in traditional attire and donning the tri-colour to support India was a group of ten supporters who has flown in from Manchester.
"We all have come to support India. We hope India beats Pakistan today and we reach the semis. We expect India to win today and beat South Africa. If Sehwag plays today and Piyush Chawla is dropped, that should be ok with us," one of the supporters said.
The Pakistani fans too were vociferous in support for their team.
Sarat Shahid, a Pakistani supporter from Lahore hoped Pakistan beats India today.
"Inshallah we will win today, because our team is playing like a unit. Inshallah we will play better than India," she said.
Mohammad Zaman from Pakistan, nicknamed Uncle T20, and known across the cricketing circles for his long moustaches, said, " It will be a cracker of a match. Whoever plays well will win. I believe Pakistan should win today, because it has never won against India in World Cup. If Pakistan wins today, cricket might return to Pakistan."
His Indian counterpart, Subhash Chandel or Chahcha Hindustani, was also in attendance to cheer for Team India.
Hailing from Greater Noida, Chandel was confident of an Indian win.
"Pakistan has always lost to India in World Cup, and it will be no different today. Sehwag is good, Gambhir is there, Kohli is there, Yuvraj is back too. Our bowling attack is very good too, and so is fielding."
Outside the stadium, the fans were already making a beeline for the match, hours before the scheduled start.
Kunal Bhattacharya, an Indian fan who had come from Pune for today's encounter said, "We are going to win, because India has always won against Pakistan in all World Cup matches. We will continue the tradition."
Another Indian fan, Arun Asnani, had come from China to witness the archrivals battle it out.
Speaking to media, Asnani said, "We love this game, we have been watching it on television, but unfortunately China doesn't host cricket. I travelled to Australia to watch the tri-series. Watching in a stadium is an altogether different experience, and that has brought me all the way from China. We will buy some flags, some face paints and hope India wins. We had an off day against Australia, but trusting India, it won't be an off day every day. India-Pakistan match is always a high-pitched thriller; hopefully we should have a good game today."
Cricket matches between the two countries have always been a high voltage affair with emotions running high on both sides.
Compared to India's performance in the tournament so far, Pakistan has been fairing well with them crushing Australia in their last Super Eight series match.
India has never lost a match against Pakistan in any edition of the cricket World Cup or the Twenty20 World Cup version.
Between them, India and Pakistan won the first two editions of the T20 men's event in 2007 and 2009 respectively. By Praful Kumar Singh(ANI)
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