It was a befitting finale for the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 when the traditional rivals India and Pakistan met at the New Wanderers, Johannesburg for a great cricket match of skill, temperament and nerves. No one could have asked for a better final than what we had witnessed on Monday. Two teams fought with courage, played with valor and above all showed great sport-man spirit throughout the match. It was a grand match with a rather bizarre but appropriate finish.
When the Indian captain won the toss and decided to bat on the batsman friendly pitch of the Wanderers all thought that it is a right decision, but the Pakistani bowlers had another intentions. India, though handicapped with the absence of Virender Sehwag due to an injury, was a formidable batting line up with the in-form Yuvraj Singh, flamboyant MS Dhoni, flashy Robin Uthappa and skillful Gautam Gambhir, not to mention the “new kid on the block” – Rohit Sharma. The induction of Yusuf Pathan in the opening slot was much of a surprise for all as everyone expected Dinesh Karthick to be the replacement of Sehwag. Yusuf Pathan was not able to make a big impression with the bat though he was able to play a big booming six and mighty four through square of the wicket in the first few overs. But it was the physically diminutive Gautam Gambhir who was at full flow. The southpaw timed his drives through extra-cover, cut the shot balls through the square, pulled away some half trackers and slogged a six through mid wicket in his wonderfully paced innings of 54 ball 75 which included 8 fours and 2 sixes. At the same time Yuvraj Singh and the “captain-courageous” MS Dhoni were not able to weave their magic in the game. The Pakistan bowlers kept the strangle hold on the Indian batsmen all through the innings and Umar Gul was particularly brilliant with his accurate bowling. It was because of the last minute attack by Rohit Sharma that India reached a respectable score of 157 for 5 in their allotted 20 overs.
At the outset, though the score 157 doesn’t look really appalling, it was a defendable total against Pakistan who, like Indians, are traditionally bad chasers under pressure. But to keep the batsmen under pressure India had to take wickets in regular intervals and they did exactly the same. RP Singh gave India a great start by taking the wicket of Mohd.Hafeez in the first over itself. But that over was followed by a rather undisciplined over by Sreesanth in which Imran Nazeer made 21 runs. Again RP Singh swung the pendulum back in India’s favor by getting rid of Kamran Akmal with a superbly bowled in swinger that beat the batsman both for swing and pace. But the real turning point of the match was the run out of Imran Nazeer by virtue of a throw from Robin Uthappa. From then on Pakistan lost wickets at regular intervals. There was an excellent bowling spell by Irfan Pathan that was really helped by some unruly batting by the Pakistani batsmen. Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik and Shahid Afridi all perished due to bad shot selection. But the audacious batting by Misbah ul-Haq gave some hope again for the Pakistan team and some worries to the Indian camp. His last minute blitzkrieg of shots was a real illustration of his guts, skill and determination. But his eagerness to finish off the match with a rather weird stroke resulted in his downfall together with the Pakistan’s aspirations of winning the championship. MS Dhoni’s boldness to give the last over to Joginder Sharma has to be appreciated and it is a real testimony to his daring captaincy. When Sreesanth pouched the skier from Misbah, it was all over and India had won the first Twenty20 championship.
This version of cricket is here to stay and one can’t deny but accept that this is a very enthralling form of cricket. Indians have a lot of positives to take from this tournament; may it be the gallant captaincy of MS Dhoni, the emergence of Yuvraj Singh as a key batsman, the great come back to Indian international cricket by Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh and Virendar Sehwag, the coming of age of Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa, the new find of Rohit Sharma or the manifestation of RP Singh as a strike bowler. The young Indian team, despite the absence of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, has played wonderfully well and lifted the Twenty20 cup when they were scarcely under any reckoning when the tournament started. The Indian team really deserves this trophy as they had defeated the World Champions Australia, the host South Africa, the very formidable England and of course the arch rivals Pakistan. The onus is now on this Indian team to take this momentum forward and keep the good work going into the coming series against Australia and well beyond. But till that series it is time for all Indians to salute this impeccable Indian team and celebrate this great victory. If it was the Kapil’s Devils in 1983, it is the Dhoni’s daredevils in 2007.
Hip Hip Hurray!!!!!
