For the majority of Indian fans, the cricket World Cup begins only on October 8 in Chennai, where the home team take on former champions Australia. Officially, though, it is the finalists of the 2019 World Cup who will get things rolling at the Narendra Modi Stadium here on Thursday. 

Champions England and New Zealand who played a humdinger of a final at Lord’s four summers ago, will be at each other’s throats once again, though not with the same intensity as this is just a lung opener in alien conditions. By the time the home team play on Sunday, eight of the 10 teams would have made an appearance and Indian fans worldwide would be waiting patiently for their team to show up in the 13th edition of the mega event.