Stand up for the champions

Be it Amir’s first magical over, Razzaq’s initial 3 blows to the Sri Lankans or Afridi’s responsible and mature inning….it was a match that all Pakistanis would fondly remember for many many years to come.

As Afridi walked in after Akmal’s dismissal, I wished loudly that Afridi would make the winning run. I guess Allah (SWT) was listening and it didnt take long before the winning run was actually taken by him while Malinga appealed for a leg before. Afridi stood with arms wide open as the whole team sprinted towards and mobbed him. It was all like a dream.

Afridi: The Achillis of Team Pakistan

After the most unpredictable victory, Pakistan were crowned the new World Champions. And I gave them a standing ovation like millions of other Pakistanis all over the world.

I’m lovin it

Note: This is a purely girlish post. I am not trying to pretend to be an oh-i-know-everything-about-cricket-mandira-bedi at all

Shani: ager tum cricketer hoti tou kya hoti?
Me: Hansie Cronje (with a wide grin)

Ok, this was way way back in ‘98. A time wen all my class mates had crushes on hollywood actors, footballers, tennis players….my favorite man in the world was Hansie Cronje. And No, it wasnt a crush. I just adored him for the clean image that he had, his intelligent looks, his prowess and his success.

The admiration was not only limited to Cronje. I quite liked the whole South African team and was an avid supporter in all their matches if they were not playing against Pakistan. I was actually quite sad wen they screwed up their chance of playing the final against Pakistan in the ‘99 world cup.

And then came the shocking news of Cronje being involved in match fixing in 2000. I felt betrayed.

Just two years later he died while he was trying to rebuild his life with dignity. I once again felt sorry for him.

In the meanwhile, South Africa continued being the best team around and yet losing all the big games.

The only knowledge that I have of cricket was thru the galli cricket that I used to play with all the boys of the muhalla during the summer vacations that we spent in Karachi back then. Still I am a keen spectator of cricket.

But lately, I had not been following cricket the way I used to. I didnt even feel thrilled about the World Cup. Frankly speaking, I didnt even know that T20 World Cup was about to start till around just two days before the World Cup started. The way Team Pakistan had been playing for a while might have been a reason.

I watched a match after a loooooong time (the last I watched was the One day that we lost terribly to Sri Lanka a few months back) and thank God I did watch it. It was a sure treat after the 18 hour electricity break down. It was simply an awesome match. Obviously, u gotta feel for the South African Team. They always lose the biggies but hey, wats more important is that we won.

Now, the result could have been completely the opposite. We won merely by 7 runs. Another bad over after that of Fawad Alam’s could have costed us the match. Obviously, a few more chokkas and chakkas during the last 5 overs of the Pakistan inning could have made life a bit simpler for the bowlers….and oh how can we forget the dropped catch by Umer Gul *ouch*

What the hell, why even think of what could have happened otherwise! For the time being, I’m lovin it

Who is to blame?

Its been more than 36 hours since the attack on the Sri Lankan team, they are now safely back home Alhamdulillah. Now that the initial shock has subsided, I have been reading/watching news/analysis on this issue and I am finding the reaction quite sad. Why is everyone pointing finger at someone else?

Sri Lanka itself has a long history of dealing with terrorism and they know how difficult it can get to control such situations. In fact, the whole of South Asia has been a target of militants for quite some time now. But, we as Pakistanis need to find out why nothing, nothing at all, seems to be going right in this country.

The basic problem, in my opinion, is our politics and our corrupt politicians. We have the most corrupt person in the country as our President. The Prime Minister is his puppet and the Parliament is full of clowns. The democratic government of Punjab has been dissolved and Governor rule has been imposed. I am not a fan of Sharif brothers…but they were democratically elected by the people for God’s sake! The judges still havent been reinstated. Once again, I am not a fan of Ch. Iftikhar but if the whole nation wants him to be the CJ, then wats the problem? Just reinstate him! With so much happening, it is just so simple to get things done against Pakistanis…by Pakistanis themselves. People are desperate! They hate the government and are willing to do anything that tarnishes the image of the government even further…which might lead to chaos and might, just might, help in changing the government.

Whatever happened yesterday doesnt seem to be something Taleban/Al-Qaeda would do. It definitely looks a lot like the Mumbai attack but the results were different. Over there, 10 terrorists were able to take the whole city hostage for nearly 3 days, here they did attack but were forced to run away. But I dont call it our victory. We lost. They had the latest weapons and had come with a plan….and they escaped on foot.* We need to muster up the courage and get united, for once, and try to de-weaponize our society.

Finally, I would like to request all of you to send in an email to Mr. Duleep Mendis (CEO of SL Cricket Board) at ceo@srilankacricket.lk and tell him that the whole Pakistani nation is with him, with his team at this hour and that we are ashamed that they had to go through the worst experience of their lives on our soil.

* Watch the video, its so shocking

Memories of the Gaddafi Stadium

While everyone else is talking about the attack on the Sri Lankan team today early morning outside Gaddafi Stadium I would like to talk about something else: my personal memories associated with the relationship between Team Sri Lanka and the Gaddafi Stadium.

Those of you who might be following my blog for a while might know my relationship with my Nana. Although I was only almost 12 years old when he died, some of the most vivid memories of my life would always remain to be of the time wen he was alive.

He had a major heart attack and went into coma for 6 days in February 1996. His survival was deemed a miracle by his doctors. When he regained consciousness, he was having difficulty in recognizing the family even. In fact, he had started to refer to my mom as his sister. It took him a while to get back to normal and the first thing that he asked for at the hospital was a TV because although he might have forgotten pretty much everything, he remembered that the World Cup was due to start. He did recover (not completely) and came back home in time to catch the last 5-6 matches of the World Cup.

It was a tournament Sri Lanka was destined to win. Sri Lanka reached the quarter final without playing a single match. They were awarded the match against India (Semi final) after the rioting from the indian crowd wen India were 120 for 8 in response to Sri lanka’s 251 for 8. It was then wen they took a flight to Lahore to play at the Gaddafi Stadium to win their first ever World Cup and that too while playing against Australia on March 17 1996.

Just 4 days later, my Nana had another minor heart attack. He was rushed to the hospital once again but this time there were no miracles. He survived another 10 days and he died on April 1, 1996. It was the death of an avid cricket fan.

Today, 13 years later, just outside that same stadium, 6 security men died to save that very same Team Sri Lanka and to give life to several other ardent cricket fans all around the world.

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The Shoaib factor

The Shoaib saga has been going on for a few days but I just didnt know what to write about it. Came across an amazing numerical analysis on cricinfo today which simply summarises why we dont really need him on our side any more. “At his best, Shoaib Akhtar is a fearsome prospect for batting line-ups, but sadly for Pakistan, he has seldom strung it all together consistently.”