We are the Champions!!

This was one of my favorite moments of cricketing history, India winning the Twenty20 World Cup. Every Indian cricket lover will cherish this moment for a long time to come. It couldn’t have been scripted better, an Indo-Pak final and one that which dragged till the last ball, holding the breath of billions of people around the world. The truth is that it could have gone eitherway but it was India’s destiny that Misbah-ul-haq will try to pick a shot that will go straight into the hands of Sreesanth. The good part about the final was that it was played hard, with passion and without any animosity. Indians acknowledged the talent of Umar Gul and Misbah-ul-Haq,while Pakistanis applauded Gambhir and R P Singh for their consistency. Infact, whenever I watch the highlights of the final (watched is 5 times already) and see Misbah-ul-Haq on the ground crying at the same time when Indian team was celebrating its victory, my heart goes out for the man who gave his best but could never cross the line.

Yuvraj Singh has been my favorite player for more than one reason. Firstly, he has a typical Punjabi attitude and that what makes him different from the rest. Secondly, he has that raw talent which if harnessed well could reap some amazing crop for Indian cricket and last but not the least; he is one of the cleanest strikers of the ball. Infact, after watching his six sixes, I read that his batting style resembles Gary Sobers and rightly so. Here are the videos of Yuvraj’s and Sober's six sixes and the resemblance in shot selection and clean hitting is uncanny.

Apart from Yuvi, one other person who deserves all the applauds (read Ad contracts) is Mahi (M S Dhoni), captain of Team India. What an attitude!! He gave an excellent example of a leader, the one who inspires but remain cool no matter what a situation, the one who believes in his team of people, the one who applauds his heroes and the one who leads by example.

There were two contrasting sour moments at the end of the world cup that tried to dampen the win that every player in the team deserved. During the presentation ceremony, Shoaib Malik, who was the second best captain in the tournament, said something politically wrong. He said something to the effect that, every Muslim should be proud of Pakistan’s achievement. What Shoaib didn’t notice was that India’s man of the match is a Muslim, India’s opener is a Muslim and the guy by the name of Shah Rukh Khan who hugged the Indian team is a Muslim too. So, Indian Muslims were not represented by Pakistan in the final but they were represented by Team India which won the World Cup.

The other person who did played the religious card once again and that too on the wrong side was Mr. Narendra Singh Modi. When rest of the Indian states are facilitating their players, Modi has decided to ignore two players from his state because they are Muslims. Only if it was Parthiv Patel instead of Irfan Pathan that he would have showered him with gifts. I think the Pathan brothers deserve a better treatment or should move to a different state that will atleast acknowledge their contribution to this cricket team.

This Indian team in every sense represents India, with players from every major religion in the country and filled with youths, which constitute more than 50% of India’s population. Its after a while that whole country was united and happy of its achievement which reflected in the India’s stock market which crossed the 17000 mark for the first time during the trading. We need more moments like these because it is indeed the time when every Indian can proudly say, “We are the Champions”.