It is not very often that I post two consecutive blogs meandering around the same topic(probably coz I don't post that often...:)). So when I'm doing it, that itself conveys something. When I was wondering how could I give this post a binding start something with which I can trap the reader into reading the second paragraph after he finishes with the first (yes...trap is the word...now you know what was I thinking while keying in these lines...mind you this is also the first para...)...I realized that the introduction of the previous blog just fits in here too...
(quoting...)
"The title of this one suffices for the introduction. You probably guessed it right this post is an after effect of the India-Pak Twenty20 encounter. Having just come out of the hostel TV Room, jam packed with fans going berserk, I had to write this one in order to let the overflowing energy flow out peacefully."
But all was not the same as when the two teams had met each other in the Group Stage. This time it was the final, and that too of a World Cup. The build up was exciting as ever. All Indians had their statistics right when they confidently stated "Pakistan has never beaten India in a World Cup match" but the point was that would these stats still be loyal to India after the final.
For Dhoni, the newly appointed ODI captain, it was a chance to win over some Ganguly loyalists who wanted to see Dada back in his favorite office. Pathan, Harbhajan also had certain things to prove, with a lot of others in the team trying to shine out of the lot. The excitement quotient had left no remainders.
The match gave the fans more than they anticipated. For a change this time it was different from the usual one-sided Aussie affairs, which one associates with World Cup Finals. Although it didn't lead to a tie followed by the penalty shootouts but the final over by all means managed to create the same tension, thrill and excitement buoyed by the magnanimity of the occasion.
This World Cup has proven to be a great success. The fact that Twenty20 has made its way into the next Asian Games speaks volumes of the nature of its popularity. The aftereffects of this slam-bang form of cricket are yet to be seen in ODIs and Tests. We might be spectators to the ODI scores rocketing to new heights and a lot more results in Tests. Perhaps T20 is the much needed pill of Viagra that would lead to the requisite resurrection of cricket.
3 comments:
""All Indians had their statistics right when they confidently stated "Pakistan has never beaten India in a World Cup match" but the point was that would these stats still be loyal to India after the final.""
There are two things i would like to mention.....
if u consider this as a world cup they so you should the champions trophy conducted by the icc and consists of 12 teams ..and India did loose to Pakistan in its 2004 edition in england... :|.....
and the T20 tournament wasn't a world cup !!!..its name was " 2007 ICC World Twenty20 "...so hence the fact considered by sooooo many people to be the good luck charm for this tournament (or the fact which had infused the confidence in them )can be put under scrutiny !!!!
anyways all is well that ends well :)
it's more a matter of perception than of technical implications or the name of the tournament. As stated by the ICC, "The ODI tournament that happens every 4 yrs" is called the Cricket World Cup and "The tournament taking place every 2 yrs is just the Champions trophy"...I got your point about the no. of teams playing being almost same in both tournaments but noone can help when the latter is just not dubbed as the WC, and that's how "soooo many people" see it...
Similar things apply to the "2007 ICC World T20"...they promoted it as the T20 WC, and that's how people perceived it...moreover taking a cue from your own nomenclature based scrutiny, you perhaps missed the critical "World" in the "2007 ICC World Twenty20"...so this reply turns out to be another post inside a post.
They (ICC) never promoted it as T20 WC!!!...see the official logo also ;) and icc conducted this tournament on a trial basis.....after its huuuge succes they decided to have it every 2 yrs not 4 yrs from now on!!!! icc world t20 2009 is in england..!!2011 in srilanka and 2013 in bangladesh....and i did not miss the word World...in the tourney name as u can see from my above post :)
and ICC has only one "World Cup" like all other sports in the world that is the "ICC Cricket World Cup"....check out icc site for further clarifications :)
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