War Ended - Peace Talks on

India Pakistan encounter would always be associated with WAR without shooting. But then in World cups, Indians have held an upper hand and margin of victories would always be on a better scale than expected. ICC T-20 world cup 2007, being an exception to it. 1992, we won by 43 runs. 1996, we beat them by 39 runs, 1999 we beat them by 47 runs, 2003 by 6 wickets and 3 overs to spare. And lastly 2011, by 30 runs. This would summarize the fact that Pakistan always feel much more pressurized than Indian in a world cup encounter. Not to forget Sachin’s man of the match performances in three out of those 5 encounters.

Considering this world cup in particular, Pakistan projected their Bowling supremacy in almost all the matches that they played, but for last 5 overs against New Zealand. Australia were bowled out for 176 in last league match, West Indies were bowled out for 112 in Quarter final match. Sri Lanka could not chase 260 in their own backyard against the same attack.

Indian Batsmen played with a plan to post a huge total. It backfired as Wahab, Afridi and Ajmal were outstanding with the ball, but Umar Gul over compensated with a mediocre performance. Hafeez was allowed to bowl a decent spell, as we kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Losing Yuvraj so cheaply gave them such an upper hand, that Sachin and Dhoni had to settle for second level score as target to be achieved for Pakistanis. Raina helped the cause with another sensible batting display, this time setting the target. Gambhir did his own grave when he got stumped. He was looking all set for another big score.

Sachin would have felt so embarrassed to receive the man of the match trophy for the kind of innings that he played. Having said that, his mere presence in the middle suggested that, we were fighting against the odds of Pakistan, making a mockery of the match with a comprehensive win against us. Pakistan’s fielding was always bad throughout the tournament, Kamran Akmal’s effort behind the stumps were always ordinary. Surprisingly it remained in the same manner in semi final match too. I would not say we crawled to 260; rather we were guided by Raina’s sensible knock to 260. Wahab’s effort with the ball ensured that Pakistan’s bowling brilliance stayed put in semi finals also. He was quick and accurate to surprise Sehwag and Dhoni, as we all know the bat speed of the two batsmen under consideration.

Hafeez is Mr. Captain’s support. Every match, Afridi would throw the ball to him and his bowling success transformed nicely into his batting brilliance. Kamran Akmal has also got a wide range of shots in his kitty and they started the chase with utmost ease. Dhoni is wonderful in mixing his bowlers and he switched his three fast bowlers end to end until the first break through arrived. Kamran Akmal was consumed by Zaheer. Hafeez played a horrendous shot to get out cheaply. He tried to scoop the ball for scoring a single and paid the penalty. Azad Shafiq is a promising lad and his calmness sent an assurance to the dressing room. Yuvi striked gold twice with Shafiq and Younis Khan's wicket.

Younis Khan’s and Misbah’s role are clearly designed by the team management. One cannot blame them for playing the way they both did. If it would have clicked, it would have set the platform for Umar Akmal, Afridi and Razzaq to finish the game for them. But then, we picked up these three wickets easily and ensured Misbah fought for a lost cause yet again. Bhajji picked up two crucial wickets in Umar Akmal and Afridi, who are match winners on any day.

Technically speaking, Pakistan made a huge blunder to push the 3rd power play way till the end. In his post match interview, Afridi said he was waiting for Bhajji to finish his spell and then he would take the power play. Hardly had he known that he played right into the hands of Dhoni, who would definitely have wanted Bhajji to finish the spell without field restrictions. Nehra was undoubtedly the pick of the bowlers with his great Yorkers at the death. Munaf and Zaheer backed him up with impressive spells. Yuvraj is playing as a fifth bowler itself and he was fearless to toss the ball to create opportunities for Dhoni and team India. Clinical bowling performance won the match for us.

India is one step away from lifting the trophy. Let’s all watch Dhoni handing the trophy to Sachin, Yuvraj receiving the man of the series award and revealing the Special Person, Team India going around stadium for a victory lap and all of us joining in the celebration in our own way.

Go India Go,

Regards,

Prashy.