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As ever, chaos and passion reign over two of cricket's great rivals...

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Pakistan and India square up on Friday surrounded by the usual mixture of doubt and mystery, says Andrew Hughes

The Ashes are often held up as an example of an intense sporting rivalry. But when discussing some confrontations, rivalry is too small a word. A cricket match between India and Pakistan is nothing less than a dress rehearsal for war.

Tours have been cancelled, pitches dug up, assassination threats flung around. Theirs is a dysfunctional sporting relationship in which the realisation that there will be no final victor is a grim mirror to the political struggle, each victory celebrated and mourned like a battle. Cricket like everything else in that part of the world gets sucked into the vortex of nationalism and becomes something more than sport.

It would be dishonest though to say that this makes for anything other than an enthralling contest. On Friday, the Muslim holy day, this vicarious pleasure of watching sport in the raw will be renewed when these two old tigers tussle again for the honour of victory.

This renewal also offers a glimpse into the cricketing futures of these nations. Stripped of the majesty of the likes of Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid, Laxman and Yousuf, this contest is an earthier but no less fascinating one, in which green youngsters, rehabilitated rejects and fringe players face their moment in the floodlights.

Most of the Indian absentees are resting, or had requested not to be selected. Pakistan, naturally, did things differently. Yousuf, Razzaq and Farhat were dropped, attacked the selectors in the press, joined the breakaway Indian Cricket League and were threatened with life bans. Dinesh Kaneria, their only world-class spinner, was dumped unceremoniously. And finally, the ever-newsworthy Shoaib Akhtar took a bat to a teammate and got himself sent home.

The result of all this upheaval is two similar looking mixed bags of rookies and retreads. But peer closer and there are significant differences between the two old rivals, differences that can point us to the winner. And at near enough evens, Pakistan are a solid betting proposition.

For a start, they hold a real edge in experience. Domestically, Pakistan has embraced the Twenty20 game for three full seasons now. Pakistan's players have played far more 20 over cricket than their opponents. For example, captain Shoaib Malik has played 26 such games compared to his counterpart Dhoni's six, an added advantage, given that the shorter game puts such a premium on captaincy.

Pakistan's preparation has also been far better. Whilst India slogged their way around a rain-sodden British Isles and arrived in South Africa without having played a single Twenty20 game this year, the Pakistani players spent the summer together in fitness and conditioning camps and warmed up for this tournament with three morale boosting Twenty20 victories in Kenya.

And, though both batting line-ups are closely matched on paper, Pakistan have the advantage of batting right down to number nine. In these frenetic games, tail enders often have to conjure up boundaries at the death and India suffered for their long tail throughout the Natwest series in England.

As for the bowling. Pakistan's pace attack of Asif and Umar Gul is both more reliable and more experienced than the combination of the raw RP Singh and the unpredictable Sreesanth. India may have the class spinners in Harbhajan and the promising Chawla, but Pakistan's part-time twirlers have proved pretty effective in this format already.

Then there is fielding, a vital part of the twenty over game and another perennial problem for India. Judging by the half-hearted fielding exercises at their first practice session on Monday, don't expect improvements in that department any time soon. To compound this weakness, their two best outfielders, Kaif and Raina, have been left at home, whilst Pakistan's new faces have provided extra zest in that area.

With the advantage of their preparation, experience and edge in the field, I think Pakistan are a great bet to catch India cold on Friday and the 1.98 currently on offer should be taken without hesitation.

• Cricket
• Twenty20 World Cup