India enjoy Heritage Day triumph
Just think, has been slogging his guts out in the name of Indian cricket since he was a 16-year-old back in 1989, when he made his Test debut against Pakistan in Karachi.
In that time he’s played 140 Test matches, and 395 ODI’s and scored over 26,000 international runs. So how many ICC tournament winner's medals does he have to show for all that sterling effort? Absolutely none.
Compare that to . He’s played one match in the light blue uniform of India, bowled one over and scored a quick fire 15, and tonight, he’s clutching a winner's medal. That’s sport for you at the top level I suppose.
I was fortunate enough to be at Durban a week last Friday to see , so I got an inkling of what to expect at the Wanderers in terms of pure raucous atmosphere. Today didn’t disappoint.
From the moment we negotiated the road block at the top of Corlett Drive on which the Wanderers stands, a full three hours before the start of play, it was obvious that many India and Pakistan fans had poured into Jo’burg. There were people everywhere, chatting, goading, shaking hands and, inevitably, asking every breathing soul if they had a spare ticket for sale.
The worry we had before the match was that because the tickets for this World Twenty20 had been so cheap, disappointed South Africa fans who didn’t fancy watching a Protea-less final, would simply stay away and enjoy their Heritage Day bank holiday cooking some large wild animals on their braais at home. Not so, lots of tickets must have been recycled to those who were desperate to see the big match, and judging by the sheer volume of India and Pakistan flags around the ground, they fell into the right hands. It was deafening at the Wanderers.
provided a suitable end to a scintillating fortnight of cricket. Once again, poor took the Pakistanis to the brink of glory, only to . I’m sure a lot of Pakistan fans are wondering why he stepped across his stumps with six runs needed from the last four balls, to try and paddle the ball past or over short fine leg. But I’m sure most Pakistan fans will be supportive of him and his wonderful efforts in this tournament. Frankly, India would have been far easier victors in the final, were it not for his talent at the end.
So, from the inaugural World Twenty20, our focus at is now on England’s one-day series in Sri Lanka. Next Monday at 0900 BST, it’s the first of five One-Day Internationals, from Dambulla, so be sure to join us on Five Live Sports Extra and on Radio 4 Long Wave.
But if you want a final word on this tournament, then don’t forget to download the final TMS World Twenty20 podcast, which includes interviews with the India captain (and future Test captain?!) Mahendra Singh Dhoni, with man of the match Irfan Pathan, and the Pakistan coach Geoff Lawson.
From Johannesburg, we hope you enjoyed our coverage, and we’ll speak to you soon.
Arlo
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WHAT A GAME
WHAT A WIN.......
CHAK DE INDIA.....
a great spell by umar gul and some good captainship by sohaib malik to restrict india to 157, and especially not let yuvraj get away with anything....
at 157, it was an iffy score and when imran nazir whacked sreesanth all over, all seemed everything but over for india, from that moment onwards India started fighting back bit-by-bit and I think the match turned around with the brilliant run out of imran nazir by Uthappa... wonderful piece of fielding and yes, they were the side who were supposed to have laziest fielders, and here i see this young side beating every other team by their reliable fielding and throwing....
at 76 for 6 and afridi gone for a super delivery all was almost over for pakistan when mizbah again turned the tide for pakistan and himself, by clobbing harbhajan and getting useful partnerships with arafat and umargul, when he sent the first ball of last over to the fence for a six, everything was once again all but over for india, but well it was twenty20, they just stayed there and the pressure and excitement and perhaps bad luck and a bad idea did misbah in, as he thought to go for the kill by playing dicey shots but ended up being caught up by sreesanth....
sreesanth taking two good catches was a good sight to see.. overall i believed it was anybody's game at anytime, but india gave away one too many in sreesanth's first over and harbhajan's over as well but were otherwise the more balanced side...
due credit must be given to the cool batsman that misbah has proved to be and the dangerous batsman he will turn out to be in future.....
it was a match of youngsters and india deservedly won it...well played pakistan,, and very well played india...
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Yes, we too watched the final here in New York. It was indeed great. Good reporting, keep it up.
John
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What does Arlo White mean when he refers to South Africans cooking 'large wild animals on their braais at home'? Does he consider cows, pigs and chickens - the staple elements of the majority of South African braais - to be 'wild animals'? Or maybe Arlo's untrained English eye mistook the beef boerewors (long, traditional sausage) we love roasting on our fires for snakes? Ha! Arlo's blog does a good job though of setting the scene, and I wish I could have been at the final.
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We enjoyed your posting from USA. Great job and continue the good work.
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Yusuf pathan did not get the award, his younger brother Irfan pathan got it for his bowling 3 wickets for 16 runs
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Well, how can Arlo talk about Sachin tendulkar in such a negative way. It is disappoiting stuff.
Sachin has done many wonders for India. India had hardly lost any series(may be 1 0r 2) in India in the last 15 years, one reason was Sachin's form. India went to the final of world cup in 2003, Sachin contributed a lot. Ofcourse, sachin had many injury problems and was out of the form but he came back strongly. India won the ODI series against SA in 2007. Then won Test series in England and then had good ODI series in England. He had scored plenty of 90s in this year so far, and thanks to really good umpiring decisions.
On the other hand, what Brian Lara had done. did he win any major tournanment? No.
Did England win any major tournament in the history? No. And what about NZ, SA
Cricket is funny game and total team efforts are required. Thats why Australia has been succesful and India just did the same.
Also, i did not like Arlo's writing about South African's cooking wild animals habbit.
But India did a good job today by knocking down Pakistan in the T20 final.
I hope Arlo gets better in future.
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For me india won the cup when they beat Aussies so convincingly, thrashed england and south africa...and humiliated pakistan not once but two times...its hillarious that this team looked so unprofessional sometime back....The comparision of Yusuf with Sachin is hillarious.
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To Guatom,
Im sure Arlo didnt mean to belittle Sachin in anyway, on the contrary i think he has been glorifying his achievemtents, Arlo was merely stating a great irony that has occured within the game of Cricket, and please dont compare the Indians effort to the Aussies, with all the money we spent in Indian cricket we should've done a 'helluva' lot better in the past Decade!
Personally it serves Sachin right for missing out on th twenty20 tournament, i thought it was a bit arrogant/snobish of him to Snub this tournament, he might be kicking himself now.
And to kSharma, why you making us Indians look bad by bad mouthing the opposition? i know you're excited (im still a bit tipsy after celebrating heavily in a pub next to Euston)
India did not 'Humiliate' pakistan in both the games, when it came to the crunch it was Pakistan's game to Lose, 6 runs in 4 balls was easily do-able and Misbah went for the reverse shot cus Fine leg was up and if he connected well it couldve gone for 4 and the oucome wouldve been TOTALLY different.
Give the pakistanis credit Sharma, they had as torrid time as we did past coupal months after the shambolic world cup. it was an aweseom game, im Soo ecstatic wth this win, i was too damn young in '83 (im 24 yrs old now)
we held our nerves and won the game, AWESOME!
but i congratulate pakistan for their display in the fianls cus they couldve easily been worthy winners as well and played aweseomly agaisnt he likes of the assies, Saath Efrikans and the Kiwis.
Scrap the 50 over format and bring on twenty29 for good!
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What a game of Cricket, I'm sure this format is here to stay. Loved every minute of it. My only complaint for the day was Shoaib Malik's post match comments. He should know better, Sports and Religion don't mix.
He is a fantastic captain and hope learns from his mistakes.
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WHAT A GAME
WHAT A WIN.......
CHAK DE INDIA.....
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Nagender - Incorrect reference. Author never stated that Yusuf Pathan got the man of the match award, but that he got the gold medal as one of the 16 players, whereas Tendulkar missed it.
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Great game between India & Pakistan. Well fought with result swinging both ways uptil moment of madness by Misbah that handed victory to India on a golden platter. True exhibition of commitment, nerves of steel and passion for the nation by both sides.
On a side note, I am baffled by the controversial religious statement made by Shoaib Malik during presentation ceremony that did nothing to elevate his image as a thoughtful captain. Some serious thinking needs to be done by him and PCB to avoid such flaming statements in the future
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Congratulations to India!
Good for once to see an interesting cricket final. India deserved to win and I hope this is the start of better things for Indian cricket.
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Arlo White has written a very thought provoking piece.
Like many I too tend to believe that sports is life in full flow. The various longer versions of the game provide us with a different sort of entertainment.
The long careers of sportspersons are an indication of their sense of discipline, patience, commitment, sacrifice, mortification, motivation, triumph and love for sport and life.
The shorter versions and the entertainment such versions provide are important for the festive dose that we all look forward too now and then. Sachin, Saurav, Dravid, Laxman and Kumble have provided plenty of exciting moments over the decade for lovers of sports and cricket. These moments continue to be part of our cultural and cricketing heritage.
T20 World Cup victory in South Africa is yet another important landmark and a stepping stone to glory for many lovers of sports in our country. Let us join our Men in Blue in celebrating life in all its splendour and glory.
Arlo White and colleagues have our best wishes when they go to cover the Anglo-Lankan series in the Emerald Islands.
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So the final was played on a Monday because it was a bank holiday in South Africa.
I find that a selfish move by the hosts meaning many people round the world were at work and unable to watch the final after following the rest of the tournament.
Not given a mention by all the journos who don't have to do a proper job!
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Firstof all Congratulations to India for playing a superb final and winning it. They showed tremendous team spirit throughout the tournament and came out trump in all situations. Secondly, a lot of cricket fans have started questioning the 50 over format and some are even have the view that scrapping the format would be a great idea. However, i do not agree on scrapping the 50 over format. If one looks objectively, the first World Cup of cricket was held in 1975 after only 18 ODIs had been played and the final of 1975 was a close affair (WI beating aus by 18 runs) and it was that final which heralded the era of ODI cricket. However, overkill in the last 6-7 years has resulted in the ODIs becoming one-sided as teams often end uplaying meaningless series and the players often look jaded. Having said that T20 has also started of in the same vein as the ODIs - with the WC played after only 18 T20's and the final being an exciting affair (Ind bt Pak by 5 runs), which is heralding the T20 era. However, playing too much of international T20 matches may result in this format going the same way as the 50 over format. To preserve T20 and keep it exciting, i think the effort by the BCCI - The IPL and the proposed champions league with the franchisee model is the right way to go. This will ensure that the international T20 games are played at the big stage and are more meaningful. While at the same time the club competition will have the franchisee model similar to the NBA, MLB, Club Football, which would help the administrators in identifying new talent, and the fans could see cricketing superstar playing for their team...we could have a situation where MS Dhoni may end up playing for NSW and Ricky Ponting ends up playing for an Indian side. If the administrators get the T20 model right, then only we could say good bye to the longer limited over format...or else we may end up with T20 going the same way as ODIs...also now that India has won the T20 WC and Australia the 2007 ICC WC...cricket looks to be the only team sport which does not have one World Champion...so i guess the upcoming India - Australia series could well be the title unification series to crown the undisputed world champion of cricket :)(reminds me of Boxing )
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what a game
pakistan should have won this.
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Weren't India the ICC Champions Trophy (joint) winners a few years ago when it was held in Sri Lanka? I would think that counts as a winners medal for Sachin in a global ICC event...
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Only the team effort and their thoughts went right to win this T-20.What sachin can do if team fails collectively with the ideas and lucks.Always dont pinpoint sachin.He is the technically correct batsmen who can win matches on his own and he's having the ability to lay a foundation to achieve big score chases.Just ask ur heart that how many cricketers in one day format are having the ability to lay foundation for big chasings.Probably one or two not more than that.In 50 over format sachin is in top of all.May be in Tests and T-20 he may not be the best but his regime will always be there in One day cricket.Who are you to comment on him......The fame and money has got attention in guys like you.Thats why whenever a defeat happens sachin will be the debate.
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@ 12, Fiery Falcon..
I absolutely agree with you. Till then, I was a little sad that Pak lost.
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Arlo, I haven't had the time to read all the feed back received, but if someone hasn't already pointed out your poor research on Sachin Tendulkar's ICC medals list, he has actually picked up the 2002 ICC Champion’s Trophy medal - although the tournament ended in a no result with both India and Sri Lanka holding the honours. So in future get your facts right before having another stab at the little master. And yes I know he was trying to be ironic - but doesn't change the facts.
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pak also played well.....
so pak & ind match beauty...
show there final match
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As a sporting culmination, the final did reach the crescendo. For an enthusiast it did make a large portion of emotional interplay oscillating through hope, anxiety, rejection and elation.
It was a game I thoroughly enjoyed though numbers ruled high. The attitude of both the teams is commendable not only with their game but also between them.
The young Indian team have proved themselves, more so due to the absence of senior players.
All said and done it was an emotional victory for India.
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Sachin has a ICC Champions Trophy winers medal. Remember the one in Sri Lanka ? Where the finals were rained off so we had to split it with th hosts.
He also has an ICC Player of the Tournament medal from the World Cup in South Africa 2003.
Get your facts right or phrase yoour sentence differently.
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Zubin , stop being an idiocyncratic and an apologist. The fact is that the best team always
wins. On the day Pakistan was second best.
Historically Pakistan always bottled out on the
big day against India. They lack the killer instinct and the grit.Get over your pontification
and defending the indefencesable.Well done India, the SUPERPOWER in Cricket.
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Its not about one player, one captain. its the 11 players played as a team from India. Which guided them to victory on arch rivals. God favours the Brave and MS Dhoni is as brave as Kapil Dev to take decesions
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I am so happy and proud as an Indian that we won.
This is the foundation to further trophies
Jai Ganpati
Jai Bharat Mata
Jai Hind
Peace
Regards
VimalKumar
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Due to working yesterday day and evening I missed the Twenty20 final and highlights.
One thing that did surprise me looking at the scorecard was that Shahid Afridi was given the Man Of The Series Award.
Is this correct and if so why, as looking at his batting and bowling statistics and contributions to the games he was involved in I can't understand how this award was arrived at?
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Seve,
I think i forgot to mention yesterday (i blame it on the alcohol) Im from Kerela, bt born an brought up in dubai till '00 till ive moved to Oxford, Im a die hard Indian fan but i find it hard to accept my fellow indians belittle'ing' the opposition, they gave us a good scare and excitment so i think we should appreciate that as well, We could have LOST the game, i'd love to hear your excuses then.
Neverthless im sober now, quite annoyed that i'm not somewhere like in the streets of Mumbai joining the Partai's!
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HATS OFF TO INDIA!!!
Misbah thought he is sending the ball to no man's land. He forgot ... THERE WILL BE A MALAYALEE in every corner of the WORLD............
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Arlo .. unfortunately here you are grossly mistaken.
Comparision between Sachin and Yusuf Pathan is childish.
Its not about the medals. Sachin is legend in billions of hearts of people across the world... for his batting, fielding, bowling talent, sportsmanship, immaculate cricketing character which he exhibits all the time. All possible ICC medals will not give these qualities to any player. How many medals did Bradman had ? Who cares he was king that's it. Thats what matters.
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why is everyone forgetting the 2002 champions trophy held in Sri Lanka that India jointly won with the hosts? Sachin played a major role in that triumph if i recall and did pick up an ICC tournament winners medal. So all that effort has not been "in Vain"!
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Its extremely foolish to compare Sachin Tendulkar with Yousuf Pathan.
How can you forget hundreds of matches where Sachin Tendulkar was the only player batted well?
How can you forget the match against Pakistan in 2003 world cup, when Sachin made the Pakistani pace bowling attack look hopeless?
In fact, given the current form of Sachin Tendulkar, if he had played in the Twenty20 worldcup, India would have won even more easily.
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"Its extremely foolish to compare Sachin Tendulkar with Yousuf Pathan.
How can you forget hundreds of matches where Sachin Tendulkar was the only player batted well? "
@Amar - Not sure who the foolish one is here - but I'll elaborate as Arlo seems to have had some unfounded confidence in your comprehensive skills: His point is the irony of it all - On one hand you have some like Sachin who is obviously a legend, but couldnt get a winner's medal (forget the ICC medal in 2002 which was shared), and on the other hand a debutant gets himself a winner's medal. Repeat - he is NOT comparing Sachin to Yusuf Pathan.
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It looks like India doesn't need BIG THREE any more. Young guns rock.
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My thanks to Arlo for a thought provoking writeup.
Its great to see Team India knocking out England, SA, World Champions Australia & Pakistan in 4 consecutive matches.
Its also great to see another subcontinent team performing so well.
However, T20WC tells us something like a team without much practice in this new format and without a coach can win this format of the game and that can never happen in a longer format of the game.
So, this format is good for the big hitters and young legs, not for the skilled ones. And therefore, I think the skillful 3 of India (which includes Sachin) has done right by skipping this tournament.
And Visa didn't like mixing of religion with sports, but in truest form whatever we do regularly and repeatedly is our religion. So, a sportman's true religion is sportmanship. And a person cannot exist without his TRUE religion. So, he needs to change his statement to not liking of the acquired religions with sports.
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sachin won a medal at the icc champions trophy a couple of years ago when india and sri lanka shared the trophy which india were looking like they wud win outright. come on arlo get a grip.
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I was watching the mathc in London.
I support Pakistan and was shocked by the defeat.
Five runs from four balls and wat do they do, play a silly shot.
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T20
Invented in England; Perfected by India.
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i think author arlo white is trying to get cheap pouporlity by using tendulker name so people will read his article other wise who will read it. just to clear the fact that india did joint winner of icc knock out tournament in srilanka with sri lanka. as other person said india did win 6 teams hero cup all due to tendulkar and lots of other tournament. if this is the case then so far england did not produce single yusuf pathan who played one match and won icc twenty worldcup. please talk about facts don't try to get cheap publicity.
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What is amazing about the games India played was the "Lack fear" in all the players. The sum of them delivered when it mattered even if some of the individual players did not in every match. Each one of them showed courage and enjoyment with daring shots and furious running and throwing. They dived like they never dived before. It is as if some thing expunged all their negatives and some one explained meaning of cricket to be "for enjoyment". They did not have an international coach or highly experienced Captain. I think what changed them was the Captain and his attitude. He allowed them fearless freedom to enjoy and do their best without worrying about failing.
Indian board should allow this to carry on in the 50 over format too. Allow old stars to retire and ask the young stars to carry on with their daring cricket. They should allow Dhoni to inspire and encourage. Board should allow them to be a tight unit with minimal changes. They should not worry about appointing the coach. Just provide them with all the technical support and advise. I can see them becoming world champions at all levels of cricket.
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Hi,
First of all congratulations to Indian team for performing such
brilliantly and eventually winning this thrilling twenty20 format,
congratulations to pakistan as well for exhibiting a good show to make
it a befitting finale of a scintillating event.
Being an indian my message to all of you is ENJOY!! and let's hope this
is only beginning(while we are in a transition phase) of the success
we are to get in near future.
To manish kabra, gautam, ksharma and all such persons,
If you are unable to understand the tone and its intentions in a speech
shut your mouth up!
Arlo was'nt comparing anyone with anyone, on the contrary he was all
praise for the little master who served Indian cricket for years.
He was just pointing at the irony that has happened in sports(and can
happen anywhere for that matter) that the man(Sachin) who is arguably
the best batsman in world cricket, who has given his whole life to
cricket, who has had hundreads of match winning performances, who is
the face of Indian cricket for more than last ten years has'nt had as
big a moment in his whole career that a newcomer, playing just one
match has suddenly got!.
AND FOR THE MOMENT JUST ENJOY!!.
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I am delighted that both India and Pakistan got to the first ever T20 final and what an amazing game it was.
I think the thing that has pleased me most is the majority of Pakistan/India fans have been gracious and respectful towards eachother and hopefully the ignorance of the days gone by of goading eachother for the sake of trying to provocate one another have gone.
Rivalry and competion is what we want - keep the hating out of it.
Being a Pakistan fan I congratulate India on winning - it was exceptional to take 10 wickets to beat a fellow in form team in the final and to win having never played this format of the game was magnificent.
The game was played in the right spirit and we have seen two teams who were humilated at the World Cup in the West Indies reborn.
To coin a phrase 'cricket was the true winner'
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Don't forget that Tendulkar was in the team that shared ICC Championship trpphy that India shared with SL in 2002. (Final match rained out twice.)
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It amazes me how many people can repeat the same comments that (a) Arlo was belittling Sachin Tendulkar - he wasn't, and (b) that Sachin actually received a winner's medal in the ICC Champions Trophy. The point has been made..., and the whole point of the first paragraph is that Sachin is and remains a wonderful talent.
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It amazes me how many people can repeat the same comments that (a) Arlo was belittling Sachin Tendulkar - he wasn't, and (b) that Sachin actually received a winner's medal in the ICC Champions Trophy. The point has been made..., and the whole point of the first paragraph is that Sachin is and remains a wonderful talent.
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Gautam, Arlo didn't belittle Sachin in anyway at all. He merely stated a fact, yes fact, that albeit that Sachin is probably the greatest cricketer of his generation he's not won anything, just like you correctly point out, Brian Lara (the other inspirational batsman of the current generation) hasn't won anything. It doesn't make either of them any less worthy of their place in the Cricket's Hall of Fame. What Arlo was alluding to was the perceived injustice of life, that one man spends his whole career valiantly carrying India and wins nothing for it, whilst another wins a World Cup medal in his first match, albeit that he made a significant contribution to that match (had he been out for nought, India would have lost, in the same way as had his one over been carted around the Wanderers, India would have lost!). Arlo is a very good journalist and respected cricket commentator who mixes with the world's greats and knows exactly what he's taking about, don't knock him for no reason.
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