O pen up…

Hi,

The way the Pathan’s batted in yesterday’s T20 match against Sri Lanka reminded me of the Natwest final victory of India that was powered by Yuvraj Singh and Mohammed Kaif. This time, it was more about brute power and guts. The Pathans had all that is needed to bat for India in T20. Brute power, effective pull shot, ability to build a partnership. Amazingly, T20 seems to be like any other form of cricket where partnerships matter the most. While Yusuf Pathan put the spinners out of contest by hitting Bandara out of the park, Irfan kept his cool and hit the boundaries and sixes at the crucial moments. India can afford to pay the costliest bowling coach in the world to get Irfan back to his bowling best. He is such an asset to the team if he can bowl at his best. He is a match winning batsman. The Sri Lankan captain Dilshan was a bad leader. His body language was negative during his team’s fightback and lost his cool at the most crucial moments. And, after Yusuf hit Bandara out of the park, he could have taken a chance with Jayasuriya. Jayasuriya being an experienced player, could easily have gotten a wicket and sealed the match for Sri Lanka. But destiny had something else in its mind. It wanted the Pathan brothers to script a most enthralling win for India. As Dhoni rightly said, there were lots of chinks in the Indian batting armour that got exposed in yesterday’s match. Dhoni is turning out to be a great leader. Even in a victory, he is ensuring the right amount of introspection goes into the dressing room to ensure better game of cricket. It was a treat to watch the game till the end although I should say both the teams played mediocre cricket till about the 10th over of the Indian chase. This victory should propel India to learn the most important lessons a champion has to learn – to keep going.