INDIA VS PAKISTAN MINUS SACHIN TENDULKAR - A FIRST IN WORLD CUP HISTORY

If it took you time to digest not seeing that diminutive figure crouching and looking up at the sun or into the flood lights on his way to the middle - then February 15 will be even tougher. For the first time in ICC World Cup history, Sachin Tendulkar will not be part of an India vs Pakistan encounter.

Five matches spanning across five World Cups played over a period of 23 years, and Pakistan still have to figure out a way to beat India at the showpiece event. But the sixth meeting at the Adelaide Oval in Australia will be strikingly different. No Tendulkar = big relief for Pakistan.

The batting legend remained a central figure in Indo-Pak encounters right from being a quicksilver 19-year-old in 1992 to an old warhorse in the epic semi-final at Mohali in 2011.

Memories of that upper cut over the third-man off a steaming-in Shoaib Akhtar at the Centurion in 2003 are still fresh - though in different hues for fans on either side of the border. And when DRS saved the little champion against an LBW shout at Mohali, India heaved a sigh or relief while a few TV sets were thrashed on the other side of the Wagah border as India completed a 29-run win.

That Tendulkar has been critical to India's phenomenal record against Pakistan at World Cups shows in numbers as well.

In those five matches played in four different countries, Tendulkar has been the top-scorer on three occasions - 54 at Sydney 1992, 98 at Centurion in 2003 and 85 at Mohali in 2011.

In all, Tendulkar scored 313 runs in those matches at a staggering average of 78.25, though without hitting a century. The closest he came to achieving the three-figure mark was during the 2003 edition in South Africa, where he was dismissed by Shoaib two runs short of his first World Cup ton against Pakistan. However, the knock was enough to ensure India's six-wicket win.

The next best scorer in the World Cup matches against Pakistan is former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin, who scored 118 runs in three matches.

Quite apparently then, the likes of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will have to take over the mantle from Tendulkar and figure out how, year after the year, the little man ensured India's impeccable record against the team they like beating the most.