Random Thoughts

Will the Pakistani mentality ever change?

The 20-20 final was perhaps the biggest match of this decade so far for the cricket lovers in India and Pakistan. The end was quite sensational leaving no room for the skeptics to dismiss it as just another ‘fixed’ match.

However, the comments of Pak captain Shoaib Malik during the presentation ceremony were not only disturbing but also saddening. In his opening comments, the Pak skipper apologized not only to his citizens but also to the entire Muslim community in the world for losing the game. This is disgusting.

What did he want to mean by that? Didn’t he see the joy on the faces of Shah Rukh Khan and the Pathan Brothers of India after the game was over in India’s favour? All of them are Muslims and they were as happy as the Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and people from other religions belonging to India. Why the hell Pakistan always behaves as the Messiah of the Muslim community in the world?

The match was not between two religions but between two nations. And, India’s victory was not a sheer effort of the Hindus. In fact, the man of the match was India’s Irfan Pathan… That says it all.

And, as always, the Indian media forgot to latch on Malik’s comments. The comment should have been taken very seriously by the news media and this should have been propelled all over the world depicting the ugly and nonsecular face of our close neighbours.

posted by Ranjit @ 9/25/2007 12:45:00 pm 0 comments

Slow and accurate won the game!

Last night’s match between India and Pakistan at the 20-20 cricket world cup venue was nothing less than a hair-raising thriller. After struggling with batting in the new format of the game, India could succeed in tying the match at the end in a series of dramatic events. And, it later won the fast finish by 3-0 with equal drama.

But, some doubt lurked in my mind over the strange manner in which Pakistan gave in. They had a superb balling spell led by Asif who picked up 4 wickets and conceded fewer runs. While batting, they were in real trouble in the middle of the game. Later on, however, they made a smart recovery and reduced the target from 12 runs in 6 balls to just 1 run in 2 balls in the final over! Now, this is not a tough target to meet for a team as experienced as that of Pakistan and that too when you have ample wickets in hand. But, somehow, the Pak side could manage not to make a single run on the last two balls. Further, during the quick hit spell after the match was tied, none of the Pak bowlers could hit the stumps in the three attempts, while their Indian counterparts could. India used all the spinners, while Afridi was the only spinner from the Pak side during the quick hit round.

This defeat is really very strange on the part of Pak team. They were almost there. Hope, there was no match fixing during the last few moments as Pak would qualify for the next round even if they lose the game!

posted by Ranjit @ 9/15/2007 01:36:00 pm 0 comments