Thursday 15 June 2017

The big final review - 18 June/ 22-23 Ramadan


Hindu is really getting out of his skin and unable to control his little vanity.
During India Bangla semi final at Edgbaston few placards hoisted by Indian supporters read that 18th June is Father's Day & if Pakistan is playing against India..everyone knows what that means. 
Although there is no need to rile up to such nonsense. However, before seeing those stupid remarks, being a cricket fan, it was mesmerizing to see Indian batting against Bangladesh. And I was wondering, on cricketing merits, how can any team in the world beat current Indian team?. But those insolent remarks on father's day sparked a new flare. Indignant mind was compelled to put the scenario in to the context. It also gave a strong reason to reconsider that if Pakistan has made it this far, it is a matter of another 7/8 hours of good cricket to rid ourselves of that jinx of ICC competitions against India.
This Champions Trophy, Pakistan showed up a different team every match and they got better with every game. In the last game against England, our batting also clicked. If this pattern continues and an even better team than semi finals shows up at the Oval, then as they say, every thing is possible in cricket specially when Pakistan is on song.
India as a team carries more experience and exposure to high pressure games, whereas Pakistan has youthful fearlessness of Fakhars, Fahims and Rummans. Our bowling is better than India & their batting is better than ours. Level of Pakistan fielding has improved as the tournament progressed. However, since WC quarter finals 2011 against India, Pakistan has dropped catches in big games against them which consistently caused our demise. One can only hope they hold on to their catches this time around. As far as captains are concerned, Sarfraz is a spirited captain like Kohli. Both are comparatively new on the job. However, Indian batting has not been tested, likewise, Kohli's captaincy has not come under real pressure and if it does in final, it needs to be seen how he responds to it. A very neutral opinion is that Kohli is not at par with MS Dohni when it comes to subtleties of captaincy skills.
Despite Kohli's repeated statements that its just another game, its a high pressure game and the team which gets less excited on the day will carry the day. Besides, it is time that we nail India for a change.
Lastly, there should be some comparison of their omen of father's day against our omen of Ramadan. 18th June may be Father's Day which has little or no significance for us because all 365 days are parents' day. What Hindus are not aware of is that 18th June is 22/23 Ramadan as well which is a revered day followed by powerful night. Who knows India ends up asking the same question which other teams who faced Pakistan asked, 'Who is Ramadan?'

Wishing Team Pakistan success.
Only Allah knows the whole truth.

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