Adelaide: Moin Khan knows a thing or two about India-Pakistan cricket World Cup history. After all, he has twice been part of the Pakistani side in their five defeats against India in the quadrennial tournament. In the first of those encounter, Moin, under the leadership of Imran Khan, also became World Champion.

“The pressure is intense,” said the 43-year-old former wicketkeeper-batsman, but cometh the hour, cometh the man, and the Pakistan Cricket Board’s chief selector is throwing all his weight behind the team’s most seasoned campaigner Shahid Afridi, for Sunday’s thriller against India at the Adelaide Oval.

Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi during the warm-up match against England at Sydney Cricket Ground on Wednesday. Pic/Getty Images

In his fifth World Cup, Afridi is easily the most experienced campaigner for his country here. The thirty-five-year-old Pathan is just 52 runs away from 8000 ODI runs, and needs only seven wickets to reach an amazing 400 scalps in the 50-over format. That he will easily achieve Down Under, but the India match is what should kickstart Afridi’s antics, felt Moin. “Shahid is definitely our game-changer. He is playing in his last World Cup (Afridi announced his retirement after the tournament sometime back) and that’s the reason he’s been giving his 100 per cent. If you look at his performance in our two warm-ups, it shows that he is going all out and that’s what we expect from him always. He is 100 per cent fit and is batting and bowling well too,” Moin told mid-day here yesterday during the Pakistan team’s first practice session at the Adelaide Oval since their arrival in South Australia on Thursday.