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Billionaires and Cricket Fans Gather for Wet India-Pakistan Clash

Billionaires and Cricket Fans Gather for Wet India-Pakistan Clash

(Bloomberg) -- It’s been billed at one of the biggest sports events ever -- India against Pakistan in the Cricket World Cup, with organizers talking about a potential television audience of 1 billion people. Unfortunately, they’ll probably spend a lot of Sunday watching images of the damp misery that is the great British summer.

The weather forecast for Manchester’s Old Trafford suggests the players will be ducking on and off the field, and trying to keep warm. The U.K.’s Met Office says there’s an 80% chance of heavy rain from about 2 p.m., with temperatures struggling to get much above 17 degrees Celsius (63 degrees Fahrenheit).

The match isn’t a final, but that hasn’t stopped demand for match tickets outnumbering the stadium capacity by some 25 to 1. The Times reported that some of the subcontinent’s biggest tycoons are flying into northwest England for the match. They include Mukesh Ambani, who controls India’s Reliance Industries Ltd. and is Asia’s richest man, and Zameer Choudrey, the chief executive of Bestway who’ll be cheering for Pakistan.

Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur, born in South Africa and a naturalized Australian citizen, did little to dial down the hype.

“I’m telling our players in the dressing room, you could be a hero,” he said. “How do you want to be remembered?”

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, who led the country to the title in the 1992 edition, didn’t hold back either and sent a series of five tweets this morning on the match.

The two countries rarely play against each other outside of major tournaments because the rivalry is so intense -- Pakistan have lost all six of their previous World Cup encounters with India. In the past, losing captains have had to cope with effigies being burned or their homes being pelted with stones.

One voice of reason came from Sania Mirza, the Indian tennis star who’s married to former Pakistan cricket captain Shoaib Malik. In a tweet, she called on people on both sides of the border to stop hyping up the game.

To contact the reporter on this story: James Ludden in New York at jludden@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Matthew G. Miller at mmiller144@bloomberg.net, Namitha Jagadeesh, James Amott

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