Twenty20 World Cup: Final Thoughts

OK, my head has now cooled down, and my heart has just started swimming out of the depths it had sunk to. So, here are my thoughts on today's match...

• One team's gotta win, one's gotta lose. So little separated the two teams. But India have shown that they can handle the big occasions, Pakistan still has a bit to learn.


• It used to be an interesting fact that Pakistan never beat India in a World Cup. Now it's actually not an oddity - India is a better team than Pakistan in all forms of the game. So the World Cup factor is just part of the overall trend. There will be wins here and there for both teams, but India is by far the more dominant team, and has been for the better part of the last decade.


• Misbah deserves to be carried off on the team's shoulders and accorded a champion's welcome. Such an unexpected almost-hero, showing the rest of the pathetic batsmen how to bat in pressure circumstances. However, as the reverse-sweep always evokes memories of Gatting, so will the scoop shot always remind us of Misbah and what-could-have-been. Still, take nothing off his heroics. Misbah - thanks for proving me and countless others wrong, you deserve an apology from all of us!


• If anyone can explain the logic of sending Kamran Akmal up the order, please do explain! In fact, let's just get rid of him. Any wicketkeeper (and I really mean ANY) can do a better job at both keeping and batting. He exudes no confidence, is an absolute rabbit with the bat, and has no reflexes to talk of when behind the stumps. We have a keeper (Sarfraz Ahmed) who was the U-19 captain for the world cup winning team in 2006. Hello?????


• If newcomer Sohail Tanvir can handle the pressure so magnificently with the bat, Afridi has no excuse. Shahid Afridi should only be considered for selection on the basis of his bowling. His batting (or lack thereof) can be considered an accessory, but he is primarily a bowler now.


• Younis Khan is a total misfit in Twenty20, I'm sure there are some takers for his spot.


• Yes, we Pak fans are disappointed, crushed really. But think about the last two weeks. We have convincingly beaten Australia, Sri Lanka, and New Zealand - three of the four World Cup semi-finalists. We only lost to the best team in the tournament, and only by a whisker on both occasions. And remember a few months back? We were knocked out of the WC by Ireland, our coach tragically died, our captain resigned. We've made progress. We've got some huge cricket ahead of us against SA, India, and Australia, with the first Test against SA starting in just a week from today! It's going to be hard to get back into it, but eventually we will!

Outside of today's match, here are a few things that the tournament taught us on a broader scale:

• Four things that are hot: field-placing strategy, spinners, net-run-rate, and illegal Internet video streams.


• Four things that need a rethink: free-hits (although no-balls have gone down!), Ian Bishop, bowl-outs, and the ODI World Cup format.


• Four things that are hot no longer: England, fast bowlers at the death, drinks breaks, and Shoaib Akhtar.


• The ICC has shown it can run a tournament when it works closely with the local organizers, but it needs to rethink the format of the World Cup and Champions Trophy to make both of those effective.


• Twenty20 is a success. The purists can cry all they want, but Twenty20 is here to stay. And Tests aren't going anywhere soon so that should keep the purists (and most everyone else) happy. But ODIs could be slightly impacted, at least the frequency of them. Interestingly, here's what Holding had to say about Twenty20 two years back. Now he's comfortably sitting and watching it at the stadium. I'm sure millions of other purists have had similar changes of heart over the last two weeks.

Congrats to India, well-played Pakistan, and thanks South Africa and the ICC for a great tournament! I hope to be in England in 2009 for the next edition of the Twenty20 World Championship.