A well deserved victory

Congrats to England for being deserving winners of the ICC T20 Men’s World Cup trophy. It was a command performance.

(Image courtesy: t20worldcup.com )

With this win, England have become the only team to win two back to back world championship white ball trophies (counting their victory in the 2019 50 overs world cup).

Kudos to Pakistan too, for coming back from the dead and making it to the final. Any Cricket Pundit would have written the team off following consecutive defeats against India and Zimbabwe in the league stages. But to their credit, they fought back, clawed themselves out of the hole they fell in and made it all the way: only to be outclassed by a better team in the last stage. So near, yet so far. This should bring some memories of another world cup final defeat in 1999.

This defeat should also put an end to all the 1992 analogy comparisons. I, for one, hate these parallel time-analogy comparisons. Each match is a new day and a fresh start. You simply cannot predict the future based on the events which happened in the past.

(Pakistan had won the Cricket World Cup in 1992 in similar, fashion after being nearly eliminated from the tournament: prompting fans to think they would repeat the feat in 2022).

Given that England were facing off against Pakistan, India’s arch rival, all Indian cricket fans today would have been supporting England despite the fact that England was responsible for India’s unceremonious exit from the tournament.

I mean, whatever it takes for Pakistan to not win. And I’m sure that had the situation been the other way around (had New Zealand defeated Pakistan and India defeated England in the semis and if it were a New Zealand India final), the green caps would have definitely supported the Kiwis. Whatever it takes for India to not win.

It’s amazing how the divide and rule policy Britain applied years back is still prevalent in the Indian subcontinent in this day and age. Even after 75 years, the hostility between India and Pakistan remains the same as it was during Independence. The scars of the bloody partition which followed Independence and the fact that we fought three full fledged wars (four if you also count the Kargil conflict) and Pakistan’s continued support of anti social elements in Kashmir have done nothing to heal wounds.

This reminds me of an interesting anecdote dating way back to 1987.

Before 1987, all Cricket world cup tournaments (1975, 1979 and 1983) were hosted in England. The 1987 Cricket World Cup was the first instance of the tournament being hosted outside the British Isles. Despite the heavy odds, the Indian and Pakistani governments cooperated in a rare show of bonhomie to jointly host this major tournament. The tournament was a big success and kudos to the organizers which made it happen.

Anyways, since the tournament was being hosted at home, Cricket fans of both countries had a field day. Given that the games were being played in their backyard, both India and Pakistan were favourites to win the tournament.

And sure enough, both India and Pakistan bulldozed their way into the semi finals. Passionate cricket fans in both nations went into a frenzy expecting an Indo-Pakistan clash in the finals. And in those days, the India-Pakistan rivalry was much more fierce than what it is today. Religious fanatics in both nations went into a tizzy and already dubbed the Indo-Pak clash as a clash between Hinduism and Islam, a battle between Eeshwar and Allah. The stakes couldn’t have been higher.

But fate had different plans.

Australia defeated Pakistan in Lahore in the first semi final and England defeated India (once again) in the second semi final in Mumbai. Australia then went on to defeat England in a close encounter in the finals at the Eden Gardens to clinch their maiden world cup title.

(The jubilant Australian Cricket Team after winning their maiden world cup title in 1987)

It was an irony of epic proportions. As my friend later quipped “In the battle between Eeshwar and Allah, Jesus Christ came up trumps.”

And the irony is still rampant, even to this day.