Johannesburg, Sept. 29: India are in the rather strange and unusual position of desperately seeking a Pakistan victory. Only if Younis Khan’s men beat Australia at the SuperSport Park in Centurion can Mahendra Singh Dhoni begin planning on how and by how much to best the West Indies at the Wanderers here to go through to the semifinals of the 2009 Champions Trophy.

Stranger things have happened in the past. But not too many. To think of millions of Indians hoping to see Pakistan win — any time, any where — drives home the point that sports truly can be a great leveller, and more delicious ironies rarely cross one’s path.

Be that as it may, India will be focused on their task. They have to win, and win big. Fortunately, the Pakistan-Australia game has a morning start, so by the time he walks out to toss, Dhoni will have a good idea of what his team will need to do.

"At the toss, we will get to know where we are positioned. If we have a scene where we can qualify or stay alive in the tournament, that will decide the combination. We will know whether we need to up our run rate, or whatever."

Yet, even against the unfancied West Indies, India will have to show significant improvement in all areas. If Pakistan do manage the almost unthinkable and indeed beat Australia, the Indians will have to win by a massive margin to pip Ricky Ponting’s men on net run rate.

As it stands, the difference is close to a hundred runs. It will fluctuate depending on how the game at Centurion goes, but in any event, the Men in Blue will have to come up with something really spectacular to make it past the league stage here.

Even in Monday’s washed out tie, the bowling — barring Ashish Nehra and to some extent Amit Mishra — looked pedestrian. In Ishant Sharma’s case, it was positively benign, as was the case with Harbhajan Singh, who is yet to pick up a wicket here. Though, as Dhoni pointed out on the day, Ishant’s later spell, after being thrashed around the park by Tim Paine and Ponting in his first spell, did come up with an improved display before rain washed out proceedings.

Even with the bat, the Indians have not fully got their act together. Rahul Dravid — fortunately not too badly hit by his desperate dive at Centurion — Gautam Gambhir and Suresh Raina did well against Pakistan but fell at crucial points in India’s run chase. Gambhir in particular was in savage form, only to undo all the good work when he needlessly ran himself out after the Pakistan fielders wound him up.

Sachin Tendulkar has great memories of South Africa and will want to do his bit after missing out to a peach of a delivery from Mohammad Aamer. Both at Centurion and here at the Wanderers, he has scored heavily in the past — averaging 55.7 in four career games at this venue — and will be looking to do his bit to push India into the final stage, if the possibility does arise.

Dhoni, too, was less than successful with the bat against Pakistan and given his importance as a batsman to any Indian thrust, will have to score heavily, He has the additional responsibility of rallying his flagging troops, and the West Indies have promised to give the Indians a thorough working out. All of this, remember, will become irrelevant if Australia put it past Pakistan at Centurion. India can only hope and await a positive result for Younis Khan’s men — and then go in and give it their best shot.

Ironically, of the world’s three top teams in the ICC’s ODI standings, one has gone, and one more of the other two will also make an exit on Wednesday, come what may. South Africa are out, and either Australia or India will join them on the sidelines.

In a tournament designed to be a sharp and testing affair, the format has had little to do with the fortunes of the big boys.

One poor performance can prove fatal, as we have seen this far in the tournament.

It may well end up being the tale of India’s early elimination here.