India are the new Champions!

Well..I always wonder why words fail when emotions rage! India with all gusto managed to trample the Pakistanis in the breathtaking finals of the T20 World Cup.It goes without saying that those who watched the match would have had their blood pressures raised by a considerable notch(myself being no exception,of course.I find it extremely difficult to type this post out without any typoigraplhical mistokes :) ).

The match as a whole was a complete thriller.The Indian team may have felt somewhat apprehensive when they left the batting crease with a modest total of 157.Ghambir proved himself as fine batsman with 75 of 54 balls.The Indian innings was spangled with only a few boundaries;no one would have called it an ideal innings.

But what a way RP Singh started off the bowling! Pakistan's score was 2-1 at 0.3 overs.Imran Nazir managed to ward off the balls of fury delivered y the Indian bowlers.Sreesanth,the darling of the Indian fans thanks to his awesome bowling figures in the match against Australia,completely made himself look out of control in his very first over.He fell victim to Nazir's furious shots.It looked as if Pakistan were definitely getting there.However,it seems Providence had other plans!

RP Singh proved that he was worth his salt as a bowler,and comtained the batsmen effectively.But it was Irfan Pathan who made all the difference.He came in and took 3 crucial wickets,thus acting as the monumental support India so much needed.One must pause here and take time to commend Robin Uthapa on his superb direct hit that made the dangerous Nazir walk back to the pavilion.In my opinion(and coincidentally Sachin's as well(according to CNN-IBN:)) this was the turning point in the match.India then went on containing the men in green.I LOLed (laughed out loud) when Afridi,attempting to act as the match-saver ended up acting the monkey-one high shot in the air and the ball landed straight into Sreesanth's hands..

So do I stop here and say the rest is history? Nope.Looks like God wanted all of us to be completely devoid of fingernails;How Misbah made India sweat. At 33, with only a handful of Tests and ODIs to his name, his greatest accolade before his tournament was to be described by Wisden as "an orthodox batsman of reasonable technique". But he has spent the past fortnight launching sixes, and there were another four in his 43 yesterday as Pakistan, needing 54 from four overs with four wickets left, almost came back from the dead.Three balls into the final over, Misbah tried to bring the scores level, scooping Joginder Sharma over short fine leg, only to be defeated as Sreesanth ran backwards to take the catch. As India celebrated, Misbah was consoled by the umpire, Mark Benson, one Englishman happy to be involved at least. Benson and Simon Taufel have had excellent tournaments.

It had been the quality of Pakistan's bowling attack that had carried them into the final, and in front of a screeching capacity crowd in Johannesburg, it was their batting which ultimately succumbed to the pressures of a historic occasion, a slightly uneven pitch and cricket's most intense rivalry.Well..I guess it'll take some time for the country to settle down..I still feel the adrenaline surging when the memory of Dhoni's jumping around(sans his shirt :) ) flashes across my mind.And as Gavaskar so aptly put "In the end,the better team(INDIA!!!!) won,and along with it,cricket."

:-)