Yes, it promises to be a great game which will be of greater significance for a reasonably large slice of the world's population.

And yet, it's only a game, another of many the two have a played against each other. Cricket has played such a role in mending political fences in the Indo-Pakistan political sphere, there is no reason to doubt this meeting at Old Trafford will not further help reduce tensions.

Kashmir is a long way from Manchester, the textile town, which is the hub of the Pakistani migration. But Kashmir may loom large in the hearts of many for it has been a bone of contention for 50 years now though what that has to do with a cricket match is something no one has really explained.

It was Imran Khan, who in his own flamboyant but politically naive style, once declared that if Kashmir were the onlyissue between India and Pakistan, why not settle it on the cricket field with a match for territory? What a match that would have been but such posturing only goes to show why there can never be a lasting peace between the two nations, only tension made worse by their nuclear capabilities.

There will be words exchanged. There will be skirmishes in the crowd as that great British institution -- the brewery -- sends its products down the throats of the cricket spectator. There will be flags waved and drums beaten and unique sub-continental bad words will be flying around. But this is a comment on the world we live in today than on some long simmering dispute between India and Pakistan.

This is sport's ultimate derby, greater than the Celtics versus Rangers football match in Scotland where too religious sectarian feelings can run high between Protestants and Catholics.

``This is an encounter that brings into play politics, religion and the foundations of national identity across a huge swathe of humanity.And since last year, the sporting confrontation has been overshadowed by a nuclear one,'' says The Nation newspaper in Pakistan.

India and Pakistan are nations divided by a common culture much as it is said, humorously of course, that England and the US are nations divided by a common language. But then, what makes this particular match so significant is it comes in terms of time too close for comfort after the air sorties and the shelling in Kargil and the downing of IAF planes.

There is always a friction to India-Pakistan encounters in cricket which the west must find difficult to define. The first time that the two met in a World Cup was only in 1992 in Sydney where the sole embarrassment to the hosts was that a few orange turbaned Khalistanis walked around the ground shouting slogans and displaying banners. The police politely told them to take it easy or face eviction. The encounter in Bangalore in 1996 was of a different timbre. The support was nearly 100 per cent for India. The host. Therewere no security risks, save in the grave scenarios, more to watch cricket than catch any culprit intending to be an incendiary catalyst.

``One should never forget that we are great friends,'' says Pakistan captain Wasim Akram, when talking about the match ahead.

``We have done quite well against them,'' says his Indian counterpart Mohammed Azharuddin, when drawn to talk on the supposed inferiority complex that Indians suffer when they play Pakistan. Ticket touts are already descending on Manchester. They expect to take the heaviest premiums around Old Trafford on match day. They expect to get œ250 (about Rs 17,500) for tickets with a face value of œ35 (about Rs 2450). Touting tickets at cricket matches is not an offence whereas it is in football.

The day will be dramatic. But still, it's not war and don't forget, cricket is the great mender of fences and hence, its special place in the hearts of those for whom it might even seem to be a religion. But still it's not war.