India, Feb. 22 -- It started on a lowkey note in Sydney in 1992, ramped up several notches by the time of Bengaluru 1996 and steadily grew to enormous proportions as the bandwagon moved from Manchester to Centurion, from Mohali to Adelaide, from Manchester again to Ahmedabad. India versus Pakistan in the 50-over World Cup might be a one-sided non-rivalry - how else would you describe an 8-0 scoreline in the Indians' favour? - but of course, there is more to India versus Pakistan than just World Cups.

There was a time in the 1980s and 1990s when Indian fans dreaded the prospect of playing Pakistan outside World Cups, and especially in Sharjah. Pakistan were a veritable powerhouse - Imran Khan, Javed Miandad, Saleem Malik, Inzamam-ul-Haq, ...