Desi Girl Talks Cricket World Cup Final

March 30th, 2011:
India vs. Pakistan

I've decided to abandon my usual format for the semi-final and final World Cup matches. Why? Because both these matches deserve much more than sheer bullet points. So India went on to challenge the Pakistani side in their semi-final. Needless to say, the excitement and expectations of the match had every Indian and Pakistani reeling with passion. The Indians want the Men in Blue to win for a number of political and apolitical reasons while our neighbors perhaps wanted their side to win for alternate reasons ala winning on Indian turf. The scene was set and as the anthems were sung, both teams found themselves bombarded with pressure. Best place to find stats etc, is of course my one stop shop Castrol Cricket!

If you've watched the match, you know how it went down. With Dhoni choosing to rid the side of Ashwin and replacing him with Nehra, Indian fans all over, who consider themselves ultimate cricket gurus, couldn't fathom this team change.Why would Dhoni make such change? On a pitch like Mohali's which turned and how! Even the likes of Navjot Singh Sidhu found himself confused. However, we decided to take our chances and pray for the team.

With Sehwag setting the scene and hitting some seriously "item girl" like shots, his time at the crease was shortlived. And while the rest of the team fought tooth and nail, it was really Sachin who the whole world stood in awe of. No, he didn't score a century but the maestro found himself four times lucky. The Pakistani teams lackluster fielding allowed Sachin four lives until his luck finally struck out. However, while the experts suggested the pitch was easily a 300+ scoring the ground, that was clearly not the case. 260 was the final score for the Indian innings, but would that be enough? A friend of mine actually believed that the score was more than the team needed. "Mark my words," he said. "India is 30 runs over the score they need." This was quickly followed by Suresh Raina's remarks post the Indian innings, "Do not underestimate us," he said as he walked into the pavillion.

The Pakistanis walked in very positive; sure they would do this and how. From the get go, they hit some fabulous runs immediately until it all fell apart. The Indian fielding proved to really be on top of its game while the bowling was just plain HAPPENING. Every single Indian bowler was used to their advantage and between them managed to bring down the team.

India won and as a Desi girl, I couldn't be happier! Emotional. Happy. In all honesty, both teams really went out and did what they do best. But like one prominent Indian cricket writer said, "No team that drops Sachin Tendulkar three times, or was it four, deserves to win a crunch knock-out game." And the likes of Imran Khan agreed too. Look, at the end of the day, it's all about crucial wickets and if you are a point where you miss this wickets, then you can only blame yourself. Sadly, the Pakistani's, an otherwise pretty strong side, have nothing but their fielding and butter fingers to blame. 


What fascinated me most was the number of people who lost faith in the Indian team the minute Sachin went was out. I never doubted my team for a minute. In fact, I found myself convinced that the team would win. I find myself emotional just typing this piece out. I insist you take a read at my statuses on Facebook I kept updating as the match was going on followed by highlights of the match! If you don't have tears in your eyes, then I don't know what to tell you! 

Here's how it went down on Facebook:

And it beginss!!!!!!

Okay serious advice to Afridi: LEARN ENGLISH PRONTO!

My favorite men in blue followed by anthem! Always makes me tear....

Okay, tears wiped, here we go!!!!!

Tendla always gets the most cheers - rockstar!

Sehwag has officially called the shots people - now that is how you play to the apparently awesome Umer Gul.

Just felt like singing...OH JAANE DE JAANE DE THODI HAWA AANE DE :P

Hello Umer Gul, have you met Sehwag?

GOD is on the field! SRT baby!

Mess with SRT? Ab dekh!

If a cat has 9 lives, then hello, this is Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar!

If Saath Khoon is Maaf then for SRT, it's 7 OUT Maaf!

50 by the Master Blaster!! And he's just getting started!

It doesn't matter who wins or loses, as long we we win!

OW! They actually HELD ON to a catch!

Muahahah Sachin and Yuvi!!!

Ab toh jeet pakka!

Uh whatever people - SRT still best player in the world. I'd like to see ANY other player get so lucky.

Why is everyone losing faith already? Pakistan hasn't even come out to bat yet! Calm down.

More Power in the PowerPlay please!!!!!!!!!!!

It's not over till it's over!

"Do not underestimate us!" Says Raina. You got it dude!

Quick early wickets please Team India!

Shane Warne predicts India will win by 8 runs.

Sorry Pakistan but you'll NEVER be able to field like us. NEVER!

It's good to think you're good..but the best??? NO WAY!! I hear the next bus back home is in 15 mins, if you run Pakistan, you may make it!

World Champs ladies and gents! WORLD.CHAMPS!

To all my Pakistan friends, it's okay think you're good, but the best? Nah. And to all my Indian friends who lost hope, India will never let you down. Jai Hind! GO INDIA!

Yeah baby! Never underestimate the power of over 1 billion blessings!

Bleed Blue ONLY! Clearly that is key!