India vs Pakistan, T20 Final

Phew! Amazing. Spectacular. Astounding. Thriller. Sensational. Exhilarating. I am actually out of words to describe this match. No anti-climaxes here. The ending justified why these two teams made it to the finals. It was a day to remember, for both teams played like there was no tomorrow. The edge-of-the-seat thriller that only an India-Pakistan tie can create.

Dhoni won the toss and batted first. Yousuf Pathan opened with Gambhir but did not last long. Neither did Robin Uthappa. However, Gambhir continued to motor along and was joined by Yuvraj Singh. With Yuvi new to the crease and with the ball not really coming onto the bat, the Pakistani skipper brought in his spinners. Yuvraj failed to get his timing correct. Umar Gul was brought into the attack and in just his second over he had Yuvraj mistiming a pull shot and the most dangerous Indian batsman departed after a struggling time in the middle. Dhoni followed soon after with a beat of a delivery. Rohit Sharma provided the much needed flurry at the end of the innings. the target was set at 158.

RP Singh rocked the Pakistani top order and Pathan took care of the middle order. Pakistan were now under pressure and Misbah-ul-haq was now the lone ranger for Pakistan. The man with nerves of steel was the perfect candidate for a pressure situation like this. 54 runs required from 24 balls quickly changed to 23 from 16 balls with 2 wickets in hand. A wicket and a boundary later, the final equation was 13 from the final over with Misbah on strike and Joginder Sharma to bowl the final over.

Jogi bowled a wide outside the off stump and it quickly became two clean hits required. Misbah tried to get one but a swing and a miss meant 12 needed from 5 balls. The next one he walked down the crease and smashed the ball down the ground for a massive six. That shot made it 6 from 4 balls. Then he did the strangest thing off the next ball. Looking to clobber another one down the ground, Misbah walked down towards the off stump, and instead of smashing it down the ground, he decided to scoop it over short fine leg. A cheeky shot. It did not come through as he wanted it to and Sreesanth took the most important catch of his career so far. India were the Twenty20 Champions.

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