Shoaib Akhtar versus Sachin Tendulkar
One of the most intriguing, awaited and interesting battles all would be looking forward to in the forthcoming series between India and Pakistan is to how Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar and Rawalpindi Express Shoaib Akhtar would perform against each other.
Akhtar's duels with Sachin have caught the fancy of fans on both sides of the border ever since his first-ball dismissal of the master batsman in a Test match in Kolkata in 1999.
Their duel was the talking point during the 2003 World Cup in South Africa. Sachin won that battle with a bold 98 off 75 balls to set up his team's victory at Centurion.
Sachin later described the innings as one of the highlights of his record-breaking one-day career.
Sachin has often dominated the Pakistani attack with rich strokeplay, having scored 2,122 runs in 61 one-dayers with five centuries and 918 runs in 16 Tests with two hundreds.
Sachin may not be as explosive a batsman as he was a decade ago, but he still has the shots to test any attack. He also has an uncanny knack of finding gaps where none appears to exist.
The Indian is the world's leading scorer in one-dayers with 15,703 runs in 402 matches and a record 41 centuries.
He holds important batting records such as the leading Test century scorer, leading ODI century and half-century scorer, one of only three batsmen to surpass 11,000 runs in Test cricket as well as being the first Indian to do so and the most career ODI runs and most overall career run tally.
India have found talented youngsters in Robin Uthappa, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh, but still depend on Sachin for setting or successfully chasing a stiff target.
And if Akhtar hopes to redeem his image on the current Indian tour, he will first have to conquer Sachin.
Chucking allegations, a drug-ban, indiscipline and injuries have dogged the mercurial pacer ever since his international debut in 1997. But when he is battle-ready, he can make life miserable for batsmen.
Akhtar has not always been a punch bag for the Indians.
His 34 wickets in 23 one-dayers against the archrivals means he remains a constant threat. He has also grabbed 19 wickets in seven Tests against India.
Akhtar is known as much for his mood swings as for hurling down thunderbolts and they have often proved his undoing in a career spanning nearly a decade.
He recently served a 13-match ban, primarily for striking teammate Mohammad Asif with a bat ahead of the inaugural Twenty20 world championships in South Africa in September.
Akhtar has been placed on probation for two years, meaning he could be suspended for life if he again breaches the players' code of conduct.
Akhtar returned to international cricket in the decisive fifth and final one-dayer against South Africa at home last month, only to prove he could be a batsmen's nightmare when on song.
Akhtars four-wicket burst nearly set up his team's win before the batsmen messed it up chasing a 234-run target at Lahore. Pakistan lost the series 3-2, but Akhtar won many a heart on his comeback.
Akhtar needs to keep Sachin silent first if he wants to make this tour a memorable one for him.
It promises to be an engrossing contest when one of the best batsmen in the world will face-off with one of the fastest bowlers in the world.