Been more than 2 decades since we won a world championship in cricket so today’s win in the World T20 tournament is a real special day for an Indian cricket fan. The finale was just the perfect dream scenario against our bitter rivals Pakistan – a thrill a minute, topsy-turvy roller coaster with both teams having dominant moments alternately. In the end we held our nerve while Pakistan lost theirs and our unbeaten record against them in world championship matches continued.

Gautam Gambhir our most consistent batsmen in the tournament saved his best performance for the final with a terrific 75 off 50 balls and ensured a reasonable target for our bowlers to defend. But Pakistan bowled real well in the middles overs and our big hitters(Dhoni, Uthappa & Yuvraj) were never allowed to dominate. So in the end it was left to Rohit Sharma(IMO wrongly demoted to no. 6) to smartly up the ante in the last 3 overs. Rohit made a crucial 30 off just 16 balls and remained undefeated. I think it would have served India better if Rohit was sent up the order at either 3/4. He has got a bigger range of strokes than Uthappa and can stay for longer periods at the crease. Despite his brilliant innings against South Africa he is still treated as a junior… well I guess his time will come soon.

India have depended on Pakistan to panic and lose the plot in world cup matches. And despite a good start they ended up doing the same in the middle overs. Joginder Sharma was never targeted for punishment while they were completely at sea against the off-cutters bowled by Irfan Pathan. Mishbah played valiantly with the tail like in the tied group match. But in the end he made the wrong choice of shot when only 6 runs were left to get off 4 balls. RP Singh, our best bowler in the tournament, bowled superbly at +140 Kmph while Sreeshanth was at his erratic worst. He never seems to have 2 good matches on the trot always swings from brilliance(like against Aussies) to mediocre(today against Pakistan). On the whole Dhoni’s captaincy was superb in the tournament and he seems more than capable of thinking on his feet despite having to keep wickets too. Now I just can’t wait for the upcoming one-day series against Pakistan and Australia. Hopefully the young guns(Rohit, Gambhir and Uthappa) will get a chance to showcase their talents.