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.
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!
Indian “New”‘s post.
We should all agree with stopping right now any further escalation of hatred, I prefer that any sport should be suspended between two rivals, unless they come back to reason.
veeeeeeery gooood cricket, pak team played well. just one bad shot doesn’t make much difference.They also equally champions.But Let Ur Allha , Our Eshwar will bless maturity to shoib malik.
I am annoyed of my Indian colleagues ganging up here on a trivial matter just because they can score cheap political points. As a secular and liberal I think religion should have very little role in society and the excessive religiosity we see in the Indian subcontinent in the shape of India’s Hindutva and Pakistan’s Islam is bad for everyone. Let religion be a personal matter and leave it at that. Religion is misused both when a cricket captain brings it in a chance remark and when cricket fans use it to score points against rivals. For those shedding crocodile tears over secularism, maybe we should first try to make India a really secular country before preaching to others.
Im an Indian…posting my responses as New here…
Faraz,
Thats very enlightening to know. This is exactly the problem. We assume things about each other’s countries that we dont know. Im sure Malik didnt mean to ‘demean’ any one else, however he didnt articulate it too well. Lets just get on with this and not judge Malik by this one comment…
Lets not comment on this issue any further to show solidarity !!!
I also want to re-emphasise, we are giving too much importance to this event. Its fine to celebrate but lets keep it within bounds of proportion to the occasion.
Since, the difference between the two sides was 5 runs and 3 stump hits over two matches; its obvious that they are evenly matched.
Pakistan should celebrate this near-victory as they know they were very very close but when they play next match/series they wont be under any material pressure…
I hope Dhoni’s men dont take it to their heads and make sure that they build on this success rather than live off it for the next generation…
New
Note: Appeal to all Indians and Pakistanis. Lets not comment on this issue any further to show solidarity !!!
Diversity has been well documented in earliar posts so no need to flog it to death and take away the gloss from the occasion.
One more difference between Pak and India. In Pakistan, minorities are only 3% as opposed to 20% in India, and at time of partition, 99% educated and wealthy minorities migrated to India.
They dont play lot of cricket and thats why not in team.