T20 Cricket: India Beats Pakistan in a Thriller

Posted on September 24, 2007
Filed Under >Adil Najam, Sports
130 Comments
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Adil Najam

UPDATE:

India won the TwentyTwenty final in a thriller, after setting Pakistan 158 to win and then bowling Pakistan out (with three balls to spare) for 152. IK Pathan from India was names Man of the Match for very tidy bowling (3/16 from 4 overs) while Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi was named Man of the Series.

ORIGINAL POST:
I have resisted writing about the Twenty20 Cricket Tournament in South Africa till now. But now I can resist no more. All is set for a thriller final game against India.

What more could one ask for… well, actually, one could ask for Pakistan’s TwentyTwenty winning streak to continue into the Final game against India in Johannesburg on Monday!

Pakistan is on a roll. And this is no fluke. The victories against Australia and Sri Lanka were brilliant and breezing past New Zealand in the semi-final today proved that this is not just a lucky streak.

The young team under a young captain and a new coach seems to have finally found its stride. And it is about time…

Much of our cricket coverage this last year has been depressing. Umpire controversies, a disastrous World Cup Exit, death of a coach, players misbehaving, and more. So, this good news is very welcome. It is all the more welcome because other news these days is much less than welcome.

Pakistan India friendship, cheering cricket fan

India, too, has had a spectacular T20 tournament. In fact, the most memorable moments of the tournament till now were the 6 sixes in an over by Yuvraj against England.

That the game between India and Pakistan in the T20 tournament had ended in a tie will make the anticipation about the final even more nail-biting.

Neither team goes in as favorites. Both go in on a roll. Its should be one great game!

130 responses to “T20 Cricket: India Beats Pakistan in a Thriller”

  1. Ramla A. says:

    Salaam Adil!

    Oh goodness mine! What a blitzkrieg this Twenty20 World Cup was! For one, it showed that 200 runs can be scored in 20 overs only; it’s all about the mindset.

    For another, it delivered excellent cricket – tight matches with never a dull moment. And how our stars have shone – now that we are rid of some of the trouble-makers.

  2. Unbelievable says:

    Then the Pakistan captain said something that was so irrelevant that I couldn’t believe my ears. So I looked at the highlights over and over again to make sure that I’d actually heard him say it. This is what he said to master of ceremonies, Ravi Shastri, who asked him a sympathetic question about the game after Shoaib had collected his loser’s medal:

    “First of all I want to say something over here. I want to thank you back home Pakistan and where the Muslim lives all over the world.”

    This is what he said word for word because it’s important to quote him correctly. The problem here isn’t the syntax, it is the sentiment. I don’t expect Shoaib Malik to be a politically correct intellectual, but it is reasonable to expect him to know the world of cricket that he inhabits.

    It is a world where Muslims, Hindus and a Sikh currently play for England, where Buddhists, Muslims, Christians and a Hindu play for Sri Lanka, where Hashim Amla turns out for South Africa, where a Patel plays for New Zealand, where Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and Hindus play (and have always played) for India. Why would Shoaib think, then, that the Muslims of the world were collectively rooting for the Pakistan team or that they felt let down by its defeat? Did he stop to think of how Danish Kaneria, his Hindu team-mate, might feel hearing his Test skipper all but declare that the Pakistan team is a Muslim team that plays for the Muslims of the world? It is one thing to be publicly religious

  3. YLH says:

    It was 1992 when the Great Imran Khan and his cornered tigers lifted the world cup … it was a life changing experience for most Pakistanis. Pakistan had come from behind … having almost been eliminated fighting back to the end and lifting the World Cup at Melbourne. That single moment made a Pakistani out of me.

    In many ways though to me Pakistan’s performance in 2007 inaugural T20 Cup was even more impressive, even if Pakistan lost out narrowly to India – its arch rival- at the end in the final game it should have won. In 1992 a mercurial Pakistan side led by an inspired great man had lifted the world… in 2007 Pakistan’s cricket team showed consistent greatness through out. With every game the team showed that it was a team which was not just wildly talented- as all Pakistani cricket teams always are- but is extremely professional as well… Pakistani cricket team does not need great men and mega-superstars anymore … the Pakistani cricket team has heart … miles and miles of heart. In the end there is a lot of truth to the saying – its not about whether you win or lose but how you play the game… on tonight Pakistanis have a lot to be proud about.

    Even the narrow 5 run victory margin for India does not do justice to how narrow the margin really was. A little more bat on that shot Misbah played and it might as well have been Pakistanis with the trophy. Pakistanis bowled superbly … but the top order squandered that advantage. After being in tatters for a few overs, it was Misbah-ul-Haq… the seasoned T20 campaigner- who put India to the sword.

    And yet as with Durban, he turned around the whole thing and yet failed to hit the winning runs…. a loss by a whisker as someone called it. Misbah, the tragic hero of Pakistan’s blaze of glory, will probably not forgive himself for a very long time for having come so close… yet again.

    But whatever the case, I am proud of the boys in green. To me they are the real champions because they have displayed all the qualities that Pakistanis are legendary for i.e. resilience, courage and to never surrender and never give up. This courage under fire has what has kept this country going despite one disappointment after another, through trying times and through immense political turmoil. It is this resilience that keeps the common man on the Pakistani street optimistic about this country on every independence day… it is never surrender attitude that enables us to hold our heads high even when what the rest of the world wants to shove horseshit down our throats. We will go on, we will survive – that is what Pakistan is about… and the boys in green amply drove that point home.

    Pakistan Zindabad!

  4. zakoota says:

    ChristianPak,

    I dont think he meant to let the minorities down, he clearly said, ” Muslims in Pakistan and around the world pray for us in the holy month of Ramadhan”.

  5. Rafay Kashmiri says:

    very strange !! watching BBC & CNN, one can see they are making out of Indian ” victory” as if Raja Pourus had won the battle against Alex’s army. I think they are doing too much.

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