Yoohoo!

Watta match! It did live up to the tag of an Indo-Pak encounter. And India winning it made it even better. It was a thriller with all the twists and turns. And at last when the ball went sky high, millions of throats would’ve developed lumps on both sides of the LOC and only on one side were there shouts of exhilaration that followed. It was a match which will take this quickie form of cricket ahead.

Two teams bereft of some of the big names, ostensibly rested from a more youthful version of the game. Two teams who couldn’t even make it beyond the first round of the 50-overs version of the World Cup went on to battle for the first ever Twenty20 World Cup. But then those teams were a little different from the 22 at the Wanderers.

The BCCI had initially phoo-phooed the idea of Twenty20 only to reluctantly embrace it. The launch of the Indian Cricket League opened the eyes of the custodians of the game of cricket in India to launch their own version of a domestic T20 league. Now with the success of the Indian team at the World Cup the BCCI is attempting to wipe off the egg on its face (it is by now quite used to it) with currency notes worth approximately rupees nine crore (that’s what Ravi Shastri announced as reward for Team India and Yuvraj Singh on behalf of the BCCI).

Cricket it is said is a game of uncertainties and even an inept administration cannot always come in the way of a spirited team. Though there will be many clamouring to take the credit, it should always go to where it is due – the team.

And India also keeps it all win record against the arch rivals in both forms of World Cup cricket.