'Cricket over my wife:' Fans throng Dubai International Stadium to watch high-octane India-Pakistan match

Thousands of fans arrived for the Twenty20 World Cup blockbuster between India and Pakistan in Dubai on Sunday with one supporter saying he chose "cricket over the wife" to watch the game.

The arch-rivals clash in one of the biggest games of the tournament with an estimated global television audience of up to one billion people.

"It is the most sought after rivalry in cricket and I never miss these games," Himanshu Desai, who has flown in from Harrow in England to watch the game in person, told AFP.

"I had planned this trip long ago. My wife asked 'will it be cricket or me?' and I chose cricket over her!"

Fans wave India's national flag before the start of the T20 World Cup match in Dubai. AFP

A woman who came from Manchester to watch the match said: "Millions watch it on TV and only a lucky few get a chance to be at the ground. And I am not going to miss it."

Chants of "Jive Jive Pakistan" ('Long live Pakistan') and India 'Zindabad' ('Long live India') filled the air outside the stadium as fans dressed in national colours posed for selfies.

India and Pakistanin fans in the stand. Reuters 

Matches between the two cricket-crazy nations are few and far between with India cutting bilateral ties with its neighbour in 2007.

"We should play each other more often. It is such a treat to see these two teams on the cricket field," Mohammad Ashraf, a Pakistan national working in the United Arab Emirates, told AFP.