India favourites for Pakistan encounter -Dravid

While most Indian fans are not too confident about their team's prospects in the big World Cup opener against Pakistan on February 15, former captain Rahul Dravid has something different to say.

Batting great Dravid, who has featured in two World Cup matches against Pakistan both of which India won, said MS Dhoni's side were favourites for the match simply because they were better acclimatised to conditions in Australia and had a far superior batting line.

"I think India would start off as favourites because India has been in Australia for the Test series and ODIs and understand the conditions better than Pakistan...this early in the tournament would not give Pakistani players a lot of time to adjust," Dravid said during an interview with ESPNcricinfo.

"The Pakistan team is very young, haven't played in Australia a lot if you look at the squad," he added.

Dravid, however, did not completely write off Misbah-ul-Haq's team which according to him held the edge in the bowling department.

He said India would have preferred to have either faced England or Australia in a World Cup opener, but expressed relief that the Indo-Pakistan tension would be relieved early in the tournament.

Previously, India-Pakistan matches have been of high importance as the arch-rivals had faced each other in must-win situations in the 1996 and 2003 editions.

Dravid, famously known as "The Wall" for his solid batting abilities, said that the India-Pakistan contest would that be of high nerves.

Many players would be playing their first World Cup and that too against an opponent of traditional rivalry, he said. Dravid was of the opinion that the win would belong to the team that will cope up the pressure well.

The former Indian captain said, the ultimate goal for India is to win the World Cup, but the Pakistan match had its own importance and victory against them would motivate the team for other matches in the tournament.

Dravid earmarked Mohammad Irfan as the key threat to India.

Irfan is going to be the key player, watching him bowling makes me believe he is going to pose a challenge for India, he said, adding that his early breakthroughs would make the job for Pakistani spinners easier. Dravid puts the odds at 55 to 45 in India's favour for the Sunday encounter.