Googlies: Twenty twenty win over Pakistan

A win is a win is a win is a win.
Or maybe not.

A few days back, rain had dampened India's chances.
Today, Asif nearly finished us off; before Uthappa salvaged another big inning.Big in terms of value. When Uthappa was hitting his boundaries, when Asif was turning into a hero, what was the original bad boy of Pak cicket Shoib thinking?
Perhaps this: I should have hit Asif harder
or maybe "why at all"?

I gave up all hope. Then there was a ball without a run and on the last ball a run out led to game being a tie. This never happens. Never to India. Never on a Friday (Jumma). Never on the beginning of Ramazan month. I grew up cursing Fridays, for India invariably lost to Pakistan in those dismal Sharjah days. Miandad, who happens to be related to Dawood now, could hit a six even on last ball. India could always hand a victory to Pakistan after solid opening stands. There was a time when we lost and the reason was simple: everytime the ball touched the body of an Indian batsman, the Umpire raised his finger. So when India had the match tied, I checked on a few other websites. I cannot allow a typo to make me really happy. I am a writer, or I think I am a writer, and who knows but a writer, how invaluable the typo is. Yet India had the match tied, and then this curious rule made 20-20 sweeter.

The hit the stumps rule is just awesome antithesis of how cricket is played. Yet it has an element to it, which I had undervalued, before I actually saw it unfold today. Pakistan missed all three attempts at stumps. Shoaib must have cursed, Inzy must have shaken his head and Yusuf would have been too irritated to comment. Back home, Saurav dada Gangul;y must have pumped his fist, Dravid must have raised a toast to his relinquished captaincy, and Tendulkar must have watched like a curious schoolboy, asking wifey to give his aging muscles a well-deserved massage.

Few things were sorted out. Sehwag is still the wag without the bite. Pathan, like most real Pathans, is fighting battles within. Sreesanth was sensible today, but that lad drinks too much Red Bull or something of the sort, and can explode any minute. Agarkar will always be the most hated guy in the bowling department, but that dude did ball alright in his first few overs. Indian batting, except for Dhoni and Uthappa sucked, and unless amends are made, their weaknesses will get them killed soon. My only wish was to see India lose and sort of limit my time spend on watching these scores. In the India A match on the other hand, the old men scored double centuries (Badrinath and Akash Chopra) while Tiwary and Pujara fell cheap. Also fell Md Kaif, who it seems, will never realize the dream of captaining Indian team to World Cup victory. The U-19 World cup was good enough. But you never know.