LAHORE The Pakistan hockey team has left for India to achieve the dream of winning the World Cup to be held in New Delhi from February 28. In modern time hockey in which Australia, Germany, Spain and Holland have set new trends and Pakistan would enter the mega event full of spirit and if they manage to get among the top six, it would be money well spent and the PHF would also be aware of its teams limitations in front of the heavyweights. The team left for India on Monday via bus from Wahga and will be escorted to the city of venue amidst tight security as promised by the Indian authorities. An 18-man squad led by full-back Zeeshan Ashraf will play arch-rivals and hosts India on Sunday in the opening game, amid diplomatic tensions between the neighbours. The ask is difficult in the World Cup, said Zeeshan Ashraf before crossing the border. But like every team participating in events of such a magnitude, he too sounded positive. We have prepared very hard and touched the every area and combination we felt required improvement. And a win would surely revive our game, he added. Though the PHF did a lot to get the team some good international matches, but it was unfortunate for the greenshirts not to have played against Australia and Germany ahead of the event. However, some breathtaking performance from the Asian teams - both Pakistan and India - would surely give some lease of life to the sport in Asia and similar were the desire of PHF secretary Asif Bajwa, who is acting as team manager. We are hoping that this World Cup revives Asian glory, said Asif Bajwa. The good performance from the Asian giants Pakistan and India are of vital importance. They need to lift their game many a notches which would ultimately raise the standards here in the region. We are going to play there with a purpose to bring the two nations back to the field again. Players have always been ambassadors of peace but playing the game is our priority and it would surely revive the bilateral hockey between Pakistan and India., said Bajwa. He also hoped that opener of the World Cup would be the played in the best of spirit and would be incident free, he added. A news agency quoted him as saying that Pakistan, who have won a record four world titles, have faded badly in the last decade. Their last major title was in 1994 at the World Cup in Australia and they finished eighth at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, their worst-ever placing. The tournament hosts are hardly faring any better and have not won a major title since the Moscow Olympics in 1980. Pakistan boasts of the services of penalty corner expert Sohail Abbas, who has a world record tally of 306 goals. This will be the Pakistan hockey teams first visit to India since 2006, and Bajwa said the players will be heading to India as ambassadors of peace. Reports of threats to sporting stars visiting India also sparked concerns, but Pakistans team was cleared to travel to New Delhi last week after a delegation visited the Indian capital and assessed security arrangements. After facing India, Pakistan play Spain on March 2, England on March 4, South Africa on March 6 and Australia on March 8 in Group B. Group A comprises defending champions Germany, the Netherlands, South Korea, Canada, Argentina and New Zealand.