M.S.Dhoni’s young team has received a heroic welcome in the financial capital Mumbai, after having won the T20 world cup by sheer accident and of course collective hard work of every member of the team. No doubt, they deserve these accolades but did they expect that they would win?
When the tournament began they did not begin as favourites. Indeed, only through a tie they could sail through and moved towards the semi-final. This pre-final clash with mighty but unprepared Australians, gave a much needed boost to Sreesanth to remove the two openers for just 12 runs in his allotted four overs. When combined with in-form Yuvraj’s 70 in 30 balls, the script was ready for India to enter the final outsmarting Australia. These two young guys were instrumental in turning the tide in India’s favour.
But the grand finale was full of twist and turns of a typical drama. If anyone wants an empirical proof to estimate the distance between victory and defeat, the clash with Pakistan would provide many vital lessons i.e. the line separating the victor and the vanquished is very-very thin and the smile of the lady luck eventually determines the outcome. There was always a fluctuating fortune for both Pakistan and India. Yuvraj backed by 6 sixes in an over earlier, was not on full song in the crucial final. Gambhir played the role of an anchor and Rohit Sharma, a gentleman who was asked to sit all along in England, made a quick fire 30 in the middle. Irfan Pathan scalped three wickets and R.P.Singh and Sreesanth did some useful work.
Despite all this, the game was slipping away from India when Harbhajan was massacred for 3 sixes in the 17th over. The distance between the number of balls and number of runs began to shrink and Pakistan was in the driver’s seat.
Yoginder Sharma, a quite and pleasing bowler was brought in by the thinking captain to bowl the final over. Sharma did wonders at the semi-final. But in the Wandrers, he found it difficult to hold on to his nerves. The wide and a six must have shattered him. Then came an affectionate goading from the captain to play a cool game. Just six runs needed in four balls. In economic terms, those crucial marginal runs can be effortlessly taken in as many balls but Misbah, in his feverish enthusiasm to finish quickly, resorted to the much used and abused shot- a scoop. This mistimed shot soaring in the sky, instead of crossing over the boundary line, landed in the safe hands of Sreesanth. That sealed the fate of the game and Indians found themselves on the victory lap, while Misbah- who was proving himself as a key factor to fetch the cup, was on his knees alone and unhappy over the unexpected development.
Did India really win? Yes because Pakistan had lost by default. This is a time to respect the losers in the game because even the winners would have found it very difficult to believe at that time that they had indeed won the match. But all said and done, victory is victory and the monetary benefits are flowing like thunder showers for the winning team and Dhoni’s team will provide fresh oxygen to this new format of T20 cricket tournament, no matter what an all powerful Miandad says against it. This shorter version of the game will be more oriented towards entertainment which is what the game is all about.
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1 comment:
Sir,
I remmember in my 2nd Year. My teacher had to decide the cut off for grades A, B, C, D etc.,
The paper was a tough one. There were a few who had scored beween 92 and 80. One at 77 and then the rest tailed of in the 60 and 50 percentiles.
The teacher then on a whim took his pen and drew a line at 87 for the first set of A grades. I had scored 82. Meaning I was now a B grade. My heart sank as I felt that the line should have been drawn at 80.The B grade in that paper has always meant an A for me.
- Paul Raja, UK
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