AHMADABAD: The most-anticipated fixture of this iteration of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup is upon us. Billions of cricket fans from around the world will tune in to watch great rivals, Pakistan and India, play at the biggest cricket stadium, the Narendra Modi Stadium, on Saturday. The contest will mark the first instance of Pakistan and India playing a One-Day International against each other on Indian soil after 10 years. Their last bilateral meeting resulted in Pakistan defeating the hosts 2-1. Hasan Ali, who played the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 and the 2019 iteration of the 50-over World Cup, told PCB Digital on the eve of the contest that starting the tournament with back to back wins has lifted the team’s confidence. “Efforts like the record chase against Sri Lanka, boost the morale of a side,” Hasan, who is also Pakistan’s leading wicket-taker with six scalps at an average of 17.33, said. “There were some fantastic individual and collective performances against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka. When you start a tournament with consecutive wins, it boosts your confidence.” In a high-scoring match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, Hasan was the pick of the bowlers from either side with the figures of four for 71 in 10 overs. He removed Kusal Perera in his first over – the second of the innings – and returned in the middle-overs to dismiss Kusal Mendis and Charith Asalanka in consecutive overs before uprooting Sadeera Samarawickrama at the death. Sri Lanka cruised at a handsome run rate and threatened to post a daunting total, but that they were not able to was because of Hasan’s exploits. “We were aware of the fact that the pitch was flat and it will be a high-scoring match,” Hasan recalled. “Credit goes to how aggressively Sadeera [Samarawickrama] and [Kusal] Mendis played and pushed us on the back foot. The only way to put them under pressure was by taking their wickets. When I returned to bowl in my second spell, I planned according to the field setting. I used variations at the right time and got the important wicket of Mendis followed by another in the next over. When you take wickets, you stem the flow of runs and we made a good comeback in the game by not giving away many runs in the death overs.”