As the excitement in two countries reached fever pitch and the tension rose to near-paralysing levels, Team India turned for motivation to the man who has never seen defeat in a World Cup game against Pakistan for close to two decades now.
On the eve of the semifinal in Mohali, India’s mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton took the back seat, and the task of delivering the team talk fell on Sachin Tendulkar.
The veteran of six World Cups — during which India have got the better of Pakistan in four games — probably sensed it would be counterproductive to dwell for too long on the obvious significance of the match ahead.
