Riding on a
vintage knock by the player of the match Yuvraj Singh (38 off 21 balls) and
useful contributions by Raina and Dhoni India
registered a comfortable 5 wicket win over England in the first cricket
Twenty20 match in Pune tonight. Captain Dhoni won the toss and elected to field
maybe due to dew factor. England
looked to be in position for a big total, but thanks to some good bowling by
Dinda and Yuvraj folded up for a modest 157/6 in allotted 20 overs. Team India never had
any serious problems chasing it down with more than two overs to spare. India lead the
two-match Series 1-0. The Scorecard:
Take a look at
the England T20 cricket team—no Test team there at all except for one or two
players with captain Cook going back home after a rewarding Series win.
Whereas, it is almost the same Test team for India. And MS Dhoni—he captains India or Indian
clubs in all possible formats of the game. Poor him! As we all know he cannot
be changed or replaced, because he continues to be the top selling brand. His
oft repeated complaints of ‘too much cricket’ get invariably drowned in ‘too
much money or stakes’. This is the reality of Indian cricket—the money spinning
short formats and the IPL have always been founded on the cricket superstars of
India
as irreversible brands. Any cricket businessman or investor would hardly do
business in cricket sans the icons and the super brands. With Pakistan playing a short format cricket Series in
India
this Christmas now is definitely not the moment for any change.
And, behold the
contrasts this great country offers unfailingly. Last two days the whole nation
had been hurt, anguished and angry over the brutal gangrape in Delhi. Tonight you see thousands of crazy
crowds cheering and celebrating an Indian cricket victory. The 23 year old
victim in Delhi
is still critical but stable. She is conscious but cannot speak yet and was
communicating through writing—asking her mother if her torturing demons had
been caught or not. Then you behold fireworks lighting up the Pune night sky. The
Indian news channels busy last two days in full blast social campaigns for the
rape victim have today told you only about the results of the elections in two Indian
States. Both of the outcomes, particularly for the state of Gujarat,
had been more or less entirely anticipated. Everybody expected Narendra Modi to achieve a
hat-trick win as Chief Minister in Gujarat and
as per rotation rules everybody expected Congress to come back victorious in
Himachal Pradesh. But still the hype of hypes (poll
of polls?) got no less intense. Well, this is the India we all know and we always live
happily ever after.
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