Dud Sea Scrawls The Writing, clearly, is not on the wall!

The semi-final is won, and this sets up a grand finale: the dream final of India and Pakistan! Given how India has never lost to Pakistan in a World Cup encounter, and how close Pakistan came to winning last week, leases the final a suspense and excitement which will make the wait for Monday intense.

A long, long time ago, Australia stopped losing key matches. They just lost the ability to lose. It was a surprise every time they were taken down. In 2001, when Laxman rekha halted their gallop to victory, he immediately became a household name. When Tendulkar hit Australia out of contention in Sharjah, he gained their respect, Bradman’s honors and Warne’s nightmares. The Ashes victory of England, with Flintoff’s all round performance, and the greatest batting displays by a batsmen in history of cricket - Brian Lara’s glory days - are exceptions or aberrations to long and thumping winning streaks of the Australian team.

The current generation of Indian players was born and brought up in a world where the script was always the same. The Aussies looked bigger, batted more ferociously, bowled with more intensity, and not only made their triumphs look easy, but they annihilated the oppositions in semi-finals and finals of tournaments. Australia did likewise when they played Sri Lanka in their previous match. If William sisters seem like horses playing tennis against dolls, Australians are typically like rhinoceros put to compete with zebras or deer. Their leading scriptwriters McGrath and Warne are retired now. Ponting was missing, the Waughs have receded to distant memory, and Gilchrist and Hayden are aging. Yet the guys who have replaced players who came before them have been as devastative. Hussey has been breathtaking, Lee has bowled faster and better in every passing game, Clarke has stamped his class, and Clark was immaculate this series. To beat Australia is as sweet as it goes. We did them fair and square.

I have a love and hate relationship with Australia. I admire their strength and I hate their arrogance. I admire their arrogance when I think of it as a strategy of psychological warfare. I hated the tactics of Waugh and admired his ability to stay at them to get his team victory. I loved it when Ganguly made Waugh wait at the toss. I read the saga of West Indies stealing a victory by scoring over 400 fourth innings runs every time I need inspiration. I love it the most because, in spite of their assault, confidence and position of strength, Australians lost the game. This was the game where Lara kept the strike to himself, taking a single at the end of almost every over, and batted with the tail, right to the last man, to reach a most unlikely victory.

The high points of this match: Sreesanth kept his cool. His tongue lashed, but his bowling did better. The dude is a good actor, and whoever lost money on Jadeja and Kambli should try him for the role of “looks can kill” type extra. Pathan seems to have benefited from haircut. Sehwag should sit out of the final: his back needs rest, and Kartik is required in the team to keep the intensity going. Dhoni is calm and composed as a captain. He lets people play their own games, and maybe the sense of responsibility that comes with it, make players give their best. Unlike Dravid, his batting hasn’t suffered under the wight of captaincy. Harbhajan dancing on the boundary rope is a sight we can see more frequently. Next time, we will send Mandira Bedi or Roshni Chopra to give him company.

Uthappa and Rohit Sharma, I urge you to stay in the team for another decade. RP Singh and Joginder Sharma have their youth to their favor, and its remarkable that both come from UP and Haryana, two states that produce world class bowlers only rarely. Kapil paaji was great exception, and Haryana’s greatest hit. They say Joginder Sharma is quite like him as an all rounder, and I hope he proves “them” right. Gambhir played alright, but like Sehwag, I doubt if he will remain valuable for long in light of the talent waiting in ranks. He flashes too much, and wants to ride on luck everytime he goes out to bat. Lastly lets celebrate the crown Prince, just like we have done again and again in last few weeks.

Yuvraj returned after a one match absence to hit ten big boundaries. His fours were near sixes. When I was growing up, my father always laughed aloud at the hardest hit sixes and would call them “अठठे ” (athathe) or “eights”. I don’t know if he watched Yuvraj bat. If he did, I am sure he was cheering अठठे (athathe) at those big hits. The master demolition act, 140 runs in last 11 overs, after just 48 in first 9 was as unexpected as it was exhilarating. I hope Yuvraj, Uthappa and Rohit Sharma will give us a finale where they reach out for the moon. In my books, I have already noted them as magnificent, and that omens well for the next World Cup.

Somehow Australia always appears so invincible, that even to the last over, the hope of Indian victory seemed to be an optimist’s hyperbole. The way Indian inning galloped in last ten overs while batting was similarly emulated when bowlers came to party in last ten overs of Australian innings. I mentioned scriptwriters earlier, and greatest script writing duo of Bollywood, Salim-Javed, penned this as a comment on Amitabh’s character in Deewar, Yash Chopra:
“लंबी रेस का घोड़ा शुरू में धीरे धीरे भागता है, पर जब भागना शुरू करता है, सबको पीछे छोड़ देता है” (“Lambi race ka ghoda shuru mein dheere dheere bhaagta hai, par jab bhaagna shuru karta hai, sabko peeche chod deta hai”) The horse cut out for marathons, trots slowly at first, but when it starts to gallop, it leaves everyone behind. Such was the performance of Indian team today, that Saleem-Javed could have lined up a series of inspirational dialogues from it.

Pakistan won against New Zealand quite easily. In my last blog, I hinted that winning requires something more than skill. Pakistan always has volumes of jazba (ज़स्बा Passion), and chutzpah to spring surprise and reprise performances that either rise to grandeur or flail in ordinariness (either rock or suck). New Zealand, like South Africa, lacks the exceptional desire that pushes you into a big victory. After the murder of their coach in One Day World Cup and the way Inzy and Yusuf have been handled by their countrymen, Pakistan knew that their blood is at stake.

Ghalib once said, “रगों में दौड़ने फिरने के हम नहीं कायल, जो आँख ही से न टपका वो लहू क्या है?” (ragon mein daudte phirne ke hum nahin kayal, jo aankh hi se na tapka wo lahu kya hai?) “We don’t value what just runs in veins/ That is no blood, which doesn’t stream from the eyes.”

For the players of both India and Pakistan, the final will be a call for giving their most nerve wrecking, perhaps the most important performance of their lifetime. Even though I would love to see India win it, I really just want them to throw everything into the game as they have done so far. Hoping for a grand finale,
and raising a toast to India,
your brother in arms,
Vivek