Cracker of a cricket match

Hi,

If an American finds the news of India winning a world cricket tournament interesting and sends a congratulation mail to his Indian colleagues, I am sure you should accept that Twenty20, the new format of cricket started with the same purpose, has been successful. I spoke to my American manager and he was all inquisitive about the kind of effect India-Pakistan matches have on the cricket fans. I am sure, I have sold the concept of cricket to him. All praise should go to ICC for introducing the format that binds people to the game.

Now coming to the match, I am a big believer in body language and other psychological factors that affect the result of a game, and since the toss, I could see that India, though nervous, had the belief that this was going to be their day. The way Dhoni spoke immediately after the toss showed that even 'captain courageous' could get nervous, but something in his voice conveyed that they were going to pull it through. Shoaib Malik tried to put on a casual tone dismissing any pressure India-Pakistan match can have on his team, but the tension that he had beneath the surface was evident.

India did not have the best of the starts, but Indian batsmen have matured in the way they are handling innings. They are no longer giving any importance to reputations and are believing in the age old wisdom of building partnerships. The partnership between Yuvraj and Gambhir was actually a good one. Though Yuvraj did not fire, Gambhir kept going and made sure that India had a good platform for a decent score. Rohit Sharma utilised this platform to push the scoreboard just beyond a respectable score. While Gambhir controlled his risky shots, Rohit Sharma impressed everyone with his cool head.

With the runs on the board, Dhoni's men always believed they had a chance and applied pressure the way they had done in the previous matches. After Azharuddin, I feel Dhoni is the only captain who has succeeded in pressurizing the opponent teams. I am not saying anything against Saurav or Dravid - they both were excellent captains, but their captaincy styles were different. Saurav and Dravid lead their teams by setting an example whereas Dhoni's style is that of bringing the best out of his mates and making the right tactical moves to put pressure on the opponent team.

Anyways, RP Singh and Irfan Pathan took crucial wickets for India and the match was almost over before Misbah showed some real guts. Again it was Irfan and RP that pulled back the game with 2 important wickets. Dhoni's decision to give the ball to Joginder Sharma in the final over can be debated till the end of this milennium but the only thing the decision shows is 'Dhoni knows tactics'. It definitely was a surprise for Misbah and he was tempted to go for an uncoventional shot and failed miserably.

The post match euphoria was evident the most in Harbhajan Singh's actions. The way he was shouting and the way he was jumping and dancing just showed how much the victory meant to India. The last catch taken by Sreesanth set the nation on fire. Deepthi and I could not believe it for a second, particularly after witnessing Misbah's batting, and we both were jumping for the next 5 minutes. The tournament has costed me a lot of mobile bill, as I was constantly on phone with my Dad and Vivek Chauhan discussing every wicket, every sixer. Never in my life have I enjoyed a cricket tournament this much. Hope to see more of such tournaments and more wins for India. Chak De...