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!
yaar, band karo ye politics ki baaten yahan:( Let’s talk CRICKET!
The good news is , Pakistani team will also get bonus.
The better news is, here, the common Indian has been talking more about Gul & Misbah than any Indian player. They have really impressed by their good game.
Ok, now let’s look forward to the series aginats Aussies in India and SRA in Pakistan.
@ Adnan, Dravid, yes senior players will make some difference in the longer version of the game. But this young team defeated Aussie brats just recently and I hope we will see some more Sree Santh “dance-on-the-pitch” this time:)
Pathan Brothers are ignored by Indian Govt – It’s better for Indians to worry about their Indian minorities(Muslims) rather creating a fuss about Pakistanis.
I thank few Indians here like “New” who are making more sense than few guys from both sides of the border. Your nick is very unique and reminds me OOP :-)
Indian objIndian=new Indian();
India now will battle with Aussies and we will have to face Proteas. As Jaspal rightly said, T20 was something different and both teams should stay in their Pajamas rather start thinking superior than Australia and RSA. Everyone knows both teams consist of professionals who could fight back anytime.
I don’t know who’s going to lead Indian team for next series but would like to know how many Indians would like to see Dhoni as future captain? Do you guys think Dhoni’s captaincy will not suffer in Test and ODIs? Without guys like Dravid and Ganguly, it might not be easier to face Australians who are now like wounded tiger and desperate to take revenge of T20.
Very true, it was a great win for India, but just sit back and realise that it could have been just the other way…..everything has an element of chance and one should always acknowledge it. Same is true for historic sixer by Javed Miandad… that time luck went in favor of Pakistan and this time against them period.
This however does not belittle the great show by Indian and Pakistani teams, but hold at that…..tomorrow is another day. And come on yaar it is just a game……you win some and you loose some, let’s draw a line and like everything the cheers and celebration too should come to an end.
I pray that there is peace among India and Pakistan and we grow together to find our places in the global areana, and address larger issues collectively and defeat common enemies like we defeated the big guns of cricket this time. Let the new generation be different and instead of boosting the global sales of arms let’s invest in growth and prosperity for our people.
I guess Faraz was referring to the Tharparkar district, which was the only Hindu-majority district to become a part of Pakistan. So yes, a significant part of religious minorities in Pakistan are in rural areas, particularly in Sindh.
BTW, Sikhs and Christians are less than 2% of India’s population. Looking at minorities purely in terms of their population share is deceptive, to say the least. Many other factors, including their socio-economic status, the overall attitude of society towards specific minorities etc. can cause a community to be either over-represented or under-represented.