Even the most patriotic will agree that India's batting
performance was good only in parts, not as a whole. Yet the Men In Blue bowled
and fielded like a team possessed. And no one will disagree that the better
team had won, as much as had the game of cricket itself.
If one were to choose a defining moment from all the
engrossing action during the day, to this writer, it was Virender Sehwag's
brief but all-too-powerful tenure at the crease. In no time at all did Sehwag
scatter the high tension hanging over the match. Much more than that, he
completely shattered the Pakistani confidence.
Try had as Shahid Afridi's men did, they could not fully
recover from that early mauling that remained as a fresh wound to hurt them
throughout, as much, as did the humiliation of seeing their main strike-bowler
Umar Gul being plundered for 21 runs in only his second over.
The wonder called Sehwag knows no pressure, no tension
and no stops. The strategy around the cricketing world is "Get this man
early, otherwise, you have had it." On Wednesday, Pakistan did something
like that yet not quite, because the psychological damage had already been
done. It was a subdued Pakistan outfit that carried on thereafter.
If it is Sehwag's job to take the attack apart, it is
Sachin Tendulkar's to keep the batting together. In the semifinal, it spoke
volumes for his tenacity. Being blessed with good fortune, the braveheart held
on for dear life to concentrate on giving his team a decent total. Just imagine
where India would have finished, had it not been for his fighting knock of 85,
perhaps, out of the World Cup
Did we hear a man called Dean Jones grudge Tendulkar the
Man-of-the-Match award?
For the Indian supporters, however, there was a moment of
anxiety even before the match started.
Skipper Dhoni almost dropped the World Cup when he
dropped Ravichandra Ashwin from the playing eleven. The omission of the in-form
off-spinner shocked many, including most experts.
One just failed to understand the logic behind this
strange decision. The Tamil Nadu bowler had quite clearly shown that he was a
better offie than Harbhajan, besides being a brilliant fielding and a fair bat.
The captain was questioned even earlier for not including
Ashwin and had to accommodate him. The young bowler had not disappointed. On
Wednesday Ashwin would have bolstered the attack further on a surface that was
slow and gripping. After the match, Dhoni admitted that he had misread the
pitch.
Going by the opinions of some former players, if a team
as formidable as India have stuttered occasionally, it is because, they have
just not been able to get their team combination right." Will we get it
just right in the final?
