India and Pakistan compete again on a cricket field today after a gap of more than three years. Every Indian (and Pakistani), even one who doesn't ordinarily follow or understand cricket, has an opinion on an India-Pakistan match, and the game coming up at Centurion Park is no different.

The opinions expressed range from sane assessments of the likely outcome to crazy calls for retribution in case one or the other team loses, as it is bound to. Some morons even claim that it does not matter to them if India does not win the World Cup, so long as it beats Pakistan in this game!

Really? Does it not matter if India does not win the World Cup? What would you rather have? The World Cup or a victory over a struggling side in a rather inconsequential (for India at least) first-round game?

Let's face it -- India has all but qualified for the Super Sixes and only a minor miracle (England beating Australia has to rank as one) can stop it now.

Does this mean India should not play to win against Pakistan? Of course it does not! After the initial shocks against Holland and Australia, the team has been playing hard and playing to win every game, even against Namibia. So why should it not fight equally hard to win the game against Pakistan?

There's no earthly reason. After all, the players would like to keep their momentum going and also ensure against any last-minute upsets that prevent them from getting a shot at the World Cup and the $2 million prize money. Winning is a great feeling. It can also be addictive. Ask the Australians.

But of course you can't expect the losers, who make up a segment of cricket fans, to understand this. Because they seldom, if ever, taste victory in their own lives. That's why they can so easily jump to the conclusion after one bad defeat that the players don't want to win, that they don't have the stomach for a good fight, that they don't have pride in their country.

Those are the very feelings internalized by the so-called fans, which get conveniently projected on to the 11 men unfortunate enough to represent India in such a game. That's why they can so easily switch off their television sets when India finds itself in the dumps with half the side out for less than 150 chasing 326 to win, even though two talented, determined youngsters are still at the crease, and so miss one of the greatest fightbacks in one-day cricket history. Just as many of them missed a large part of V V S Laxman's epic 281 in Calcutta two years ago.

None of this implies that the match against Pakistan is not important. For one, it's a World Cup game. For another, whether we like it or not, there is a history, mostly political, attached to India-Pakistan sporting encounters that gives them an added edge. But there's no evidence, apart from Javed Miandad's last-ball six at Sharjah almost two decades ago and India's continuous defeats thereafter to Pakistan in finals at that (suspect, at least for me) desert venue, to back up the claim made by many that Pakistan always raises its game when playing against India, but the reverse does not happen.

If anything, Pakistanis should be saying this, because it's Pakistan that has never been able to beat India at a World Cup. How can anyone forget Bangalore 1996? If that was not raising one's game, what is?

At the end of the day, however, we ought to keep our balance and not forget that it's only a cricket match, a World Cup cricket match. Winning it isn't going to mean the end of Pakistan and its mischief, just as losing it isn't going to mean that Pakistan will succeed in its grand plan of dismembering India. At stake are just four points. We should not lose sight of the fact that our team is in South Africa primarily to compete for the World Cup, not score cheap talking points for the losers back home over a side that's not even fancied to make it to the Super Sixes.

Let's face it. The team to beat at the World Cup, indeed in present-day cricket, is Australia. And the only team that looks to have the potential to do it is India, never mind its humiliating defeat at the same Centurion Park exactly 14 days ago. Yet, it is not enough, or I should say not important enough, to beat Australia at the World Cup. Ultimately, Sourav Ganguly's team will achieve greatness not by winning the World Cup alone, but by beating Australia in Australia later this year. No, don't laugh your usual pessimistic laugh, it's possible. But then that's still some way off and it's not a good idea to lose focus on the present by looking too far into the future.

So yes, right now, if I have to choose between a victory over Pakistan and winning the World Cup, if I am not allowed to take both, I'll take the World Cup, thank you very much! I'm sure that will be the choice of most sane people, including our cricket team.