India vs Pakistan: Ready for the game?
As we approach tomorrow, temperatures will rise. The busiest of the roads, the chowks will be empty. Early lunches and the fight for the favourite spot in front of the TV sets will continue till the first ball is bowled. After that India will go on a “bandh” – and nobody will be complaining against it this time.
Nicknamed the “mother of all World Cup matches”, the India – Pakistan second semifinal is the match every body is expecting, quiet blissfully forgetting (almost) that there was another semi-final being played today! The result of the other semifinal notwithstanding, for India, perhaps World Cup may be won or lost on Wednesday itself.
As we approach tomorrow, temperatures will rise. The busiest of the roads, the chowks will be empty. Early lunches and the fight for the favourite spot in front of the TV sets will continue till the first ball is bowled. After that India will go on a “bandh” – and nobody will be complaining against it this time.
Nicknamed the “mother of all World Cup matches”, the India – Pakistan second semifinal is the match every body is expecting, quiet blissfully forgetting (almost) that there was another semi-final being played today! The result of the other semifinal notwithstanding, for India, perhaps World Cup may be won or lost on Wednesday itself.
Strategies, tactics, techniques are being debated, manufactured and developed by the knowledgeable billions of the sub-continent by the minute – switch on any television channel or land on any page in your virtual world, there is a plethora of do’s and don’ts for the teams and jokes doing rounds. Even the governments have also been caught on this fever.
With the PR machinery active around the match, the core question remains: who will be the winner tomorrow?
On paper and by performances in the past one year, one can answer blind-folded that India is standing on much stronger grounds. With Sachin Tendulkar at the helm and backed up by Sehwag, Gambhir, Royal Challenger Virat Kohli, Raina, Pathan – there are few in the world of cricket to challenge the batting might of this line up. However, with Umer Gul, Shoiab Akhtar and Shahid Afridi manning the Pakistan bowling, a perfect match of equal strength can be envisaged.
But cricket is not played on paper. The statistics, the pedigrees would mean nothing if on match day nothing is translated to actual realisation of the dream, the potential that the teams posses. Another Royal Challenger Zaheer Khan, spearheading the Indian bowling department will be on fire, as will be the rest 21 players in action tomorrow. The derby always inspire the best out of both the teams, and no, this time no team is saying, “Let the game win”. Rather its winning the semifinal that matters!
But we must remember that despite numerous problems between our two countries, sane Indians and Pakistanis have a deep affection for each other. And the cricketers have respect for the other. There will be do-or-die competition on the field but that is where it should stay.
So let’s play cricket. Let’s not play games here!
Post a comment
Notify me of follow-up comments?
Post comment to Facebook
subscribe to rss 
Related News
Team RCB
Fan Club Updates
Latest comments