Twenty20 Cricket Championship: Beyond Pain, Humiliation and Defeat

I am not a great fan of cricket. You will not find me jumping on people's shoulders to see a telecast at the corner television showroom. Because I am not a great fan of cricket, I also have only a semblance of understanding of the game. I still do not know what a cover drive, off drive (or whatever it is called) is. I should confess here, I do have an understanding of leg spin and off spin, because I used to bowl underarm during gully cricket. The only time I use the terms 'fine leg' is when I am at a party, and the cricket stump is definitely not on my mind at that time.

This, however, does not mean that I have not watched cricket. I have watched my quota of cricket, and have liked what I have watched. It has never made any difference for me though. It is just a game, a sport, where some win and more lose. So, cricket was an unemotional, complicated and satisfying sport for me.

All that changed on 24th of September, 2007, the grand finale against India and Pakistan for the Twenty20 World Championship.

Let me be frank, I love the Twenty20 version of great game of cricket. Though I know that like in every other thing, there will be some old-schoolers who will shake their heads at the format, these people are like those who like filter coffee and think instant coffee is just colored water. But ignore these people, they still have not come in terms with one day cricket, for them, the test matches are the real deal.

There are a number of reasons why I love the Twenty20. First off, it is divine justice that advertisements are cut off abruptly during the live broadcast of the matches. There is no other word, phrase, or term for it. It is simply 'divine justice' for people who are forced to watch the same ads in their complete form just because they like cricket. Secondly, it is fast. It is quick on the uptake and has a mindboggling speed in its ending. And thirdly, the Twenty20 format does not have time for slog overs, overnight batsman, bowling strategy, and other such funny cricketisms.

Though I do not get swayed by these matters, it will be safe for me to say that the India Vs Pakistan was a dream match for people on both sides of the err.. boundary. The way Indians were playing, it was rest assured that they would be in the final when Pakistan reached the finals a few hours earlier.

One cannot deny that Indians and Pakistanis had a load to get off their back during this tournament. They were thrown away like roadkill during the last World Cup, players on both sides had faced the ire of the common public. Houses were vandalized, establishments were destroyed and hearts were broken.

I still blame one and only thing for the loss of the Indian cricket team during the One day International World Cup (hey, gimme a better term and I'll change it). That was the Indian media. Today's media does not understand the sheer amount of responsibility it has towards the nation and the people. They are heartless, senseless and completely moneyminded, and of course, not to forget, plain stupid.

First off, they went ahead and used their creative audio visuals to make Indians believe that they had already won the world cup, it was just a post dated check that had to be encashed on the last day of the tournament. Well, it was something that the Indians wanted to believe, and believe they did.

Secondly, as far as my advertising and practical experience goes, one always, always and always has to keep a backup media or advertising plan during anything to do with entertainment and sports, which these lazy bums did not. Maybe they were too busy planning how much of an increment they want once the ad strategy for Mahendra Singh Dhoni went right. So, we had Mahendra Singh Dhoni hitting shots out of the ground during advertisements, while just a minute ago he got out for a duck in real life. It was not ironic, just plain stupid. I fail to believe that nobody went through the 'what if' scenario while one of their coffee and nicotine induced 'brainstorming' sessions. The only reason I can come up with them not having an alternate plan for the advertising extravaganza during the ODI World Cup is that their computer hard disks did not have the required space. Give me a better reason.

So, the general idea was that the young generation had to given a chance on the international level, and they were given the chance during the Twenty20 championship. Let me assure you, people who were equally talented, if not more, had never got a chance on the international arena, are currently in the Twenty20 Indian cricket team.

And man, did they play! There were some moments which actually made everyone proud of being an Indian. Of course, there were many photo-op minutes during the entire match, but hell, everyone loves a bit of PR on the side.

One of the most heart rending moments of the Twenty20 championship was the India Pakistan match during the group stages. It was one of the first matches where the 'bowl out' rule was put into action. India won the bowl out and Pakistan lost. Of course, the next day they put their foot in their mouth by saying that they did not know what they had to do during the 'bowl out'. I reserve my comment on that one. No, I will not say a word about it. This paragraph is over, please, scroll down. Ah, better I start the new paragraph.

The final, big match was much anticipated. And Yuvraj Singh, the master blaster (reminds me of someone else, but the fact stands, we never won a World Cup when he was around) of the tournament was said to hammer the opposition into submission. To give credit where it is due, the Pakistani captain did a fine job of restricting Yuvi. It was simple enough, he loves pace bowling, and he did not get it. Yes, his final shot was a shot of frustration.

For one, it was Gautam Gambhir whom all Indians have to be thankful to. If he hadn't been calm, the World Cup was once again a distant dream for us. For the record, Gambhir, in Hindi and Sanskrit means 'serious' or 'pondering'.

Other than that, the Pakistanis bowled and fielded excellently, with the entire match becoming a fight against the red and the green all over the stadium. Their good planning restricted India to a nominal score, in fact, if the score was around twenty less, a entire nation would have switched channels.

Ironically, Twenty20 is considered to be a batsman's game, but people will agree with me that there is no other greater scene in cricket history than a bowler smashing through a batsman's guard and toppling his wickets. With such a paltry score on board, the Indian bowlers simply did not have the option of making any mistake. One thing certain is that the Twenty20 format is a format of uncertainty. Why, one huge hit can change the face of the game, and it did that.

Another thing that was interesting was the amount of aggressiveness shown by both Indians and Pakistanis. While the Pakistanis had the same aggression seen in matches of lesser importance, the Indians showed their aggression only as an after thought. Was the entire over aggression bit just a publicity stunt, or had the Indian cricket team passed all boundaries of aggression and now were just a snapped beast on prowl? One will never know.

The final over may well be considered one of the greatest in all of one day cricket. What will soon be our 'last over specialist', Joginder Sharma, had the ball in hand and there were some paltry runs to be had. I love that guy. He has this cute little face of a schoolboy who has just been caught without his homework by a strict teacher during pressure moments.

Which brings me to the last ball. I am still confused about what that guy was trying to do when he played that shot. Seriously speaking, the place from where I come, that shot is played when a kid is bowling to you and you do not want to send the ball too far, simply because you are the one who will be fetching it. So, either he was overconfident and wanted to insult all Indians in a collective manner, or he simply did not have any other shot to play. I find the second option too improbable, because my untrained eye tells that he could have easily sent it for a single or double and undoubtedly won the match.

So, was it overconfidence and ego that made it possible for the Indian team to win the match, not completely true, I'd say. But more than that, it was a good end to a journey of tears, sweat, defeat and humiliation that the Indian cricket team had endured since a past few months.