The World Cup semi-final between India and Pakistan was placarded as the match of the big statement It was believed it would be dominated by an larger-than-life performance from a handful of cricketers who would make game-altering, life-changing contributions over 100 overs. It would be a grand annunciation of skill that suited a contest watched by heads of state and government meeting at a cricket ground to talk about peace because a match had suddenly broken out in the neighborhood.
The big occasion in Mohali today didn't quite find the alpha males. India's World Cup MVP was sent back home within a minute of arrival, by a swinging full-toss, and Sachin Tendulkar scratched out an 85 that was quite the opposite of one his many routine, treasured, "chanceless" innings. Sachin Tendulkar never got "5 lives" in a single match in the career of 21 Year. He himself said that "Five lives! God has been kind to me. It is not something which has happened to me earlier".
The men who did the thorough stringent housekeeping when 260 had to be defended were the ones who have not been cognitive state in an Indian starting line-up through the tournament or rather to say in past 3-4 years.
India's win was steadily carved out amid the heat and noise of Mohali not by its magnanimousness but its plebs: the bit-part men who live in the halfway house between belonging and dispensability in the XI.
There are many excruciating and frustrating ways to lose a game, let alone one as big as this, but few gnaw away at reason and rationality quite like those lost to dropped catches. In this age of the instant vent and search for a "match ka mujrim" (criminal of the match), Misbah-ul-Haq's innings is already being savaged in Pakistan for its poor pacing. The reaction is misplaced and immoderate, for the pitch wasn't given to facile stroke-play, particularly after the ball worn, and there had already been some momentum-losing pathetic shots earlier from the openers.
What were once considered the weak links of the Indian team have turned out to be its toughest cookies. And with no crumbling.
Indian team shown their courage and a competitive, goal-driven, "take charge" attitude.
The game might be decided by a single knife-edge blast of brilliance, a captaincy gamble that either works or backfires, a schoolboy nerves-induced botch. It might be won at a canter by overwhelming batting dominance, or superior bowling incision. This is a genuinely enamouring contest. And if it directly or indirectly aids the cause of political harmony (and/or celebrity public profiles) in the bargain, so much the better.
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