INDIA VS PAKISTAN T20

Well well well,India Pakistan 20-20.Huge expat crowd at the venue,Durban, which has a great relevance with our history,remember the great Mahatma practised his legal profession here.And once again,the archrivals,the cricketing giants of the asian subcontinent,India and Pakistan clashed in cricket's newest and sharpest format,the 20-20 league.Even as purists complain about how the new format is too compressed and biased towards the batsmen and some even going to the extent predicting doomsday for the new format and a very venerable respected sports columnist likening the new format to a golfer continously teeing off. They would be eating their own words after watching the gripping,exciting and edge-of-the-seat thrills and spills,the encounter between India and Pakistan provided.After winning a not so decisive toss,the pakistani captain shoaib malik put the indians in to bat.After some splendid fast bowling from the pakistani quicks,especially mohammad asif,india found itself teetering at a precarious 36/4 when the skipper mahendra singh dhoni walked in.he,along with swashbuckling robin uthappa managed to steady the indian ship.uthappa played to his strengths-dominating the bowling and was looking very dangerous,A quickfire 50 before he edged one from the new face tanvir(with an unusual action) to akmal.Pathan in his comeback match made a quick 20.Dhoni played sensibly and finally succumbed while trying to up the scoring rate.The indian tail folded for 141.the pakistan reply was strong till some inspired bowling and fielding reduced them to 53/4.shoaib malik tried and failed to take on the indian attack.Afridi coming in low at #7 failed to make a mark,.,.,it was left to misbah ul haq who almost pulled it off in a classic cliffhanger of a match,..,.twelve required of the last over,.,sreesanth steams in.,.,.arafat slogs it over cover for a single.next ball misbah swings it for a couple.sreesanth bowls a tad short.,.,.misbah swings and connects.,.the ball flies across the point for four more,a section of a crowd goes silent and one more section erupts.this is india vs pakistan.five required of three.the indian think tank crowds around sreesanth.,.,the crowds tense,wait with bated breadth,.,.some praying fervently,.,.mid off comes in,.,.a full toss,.,.,misbah drives,.,.beats mid off for another boundary.,scores level.,.pakistan cannot lose from here.one required off three.sreesanth braces up and bowls two amazing dot balls under severe pressure.an eerie silence shrouds the arena.one required of one,.,.a short ball,.,.misbah makes contact,.,.scampers for a single.,.,but he is run out brilliantly.,.,.,the match is tied.,.,.the crowd is shocked.,.,India pull it off from the brink.,.,.,now to the new football style bowl out,.,.,india line up sehwag,harbhajan,uthappa,pathan and sreesanth,.,.india start.,.,sehwag hits the wicket.,.,.arafat bowls and misses.,.,harbhajan hits,gul misses,.,.uthappa hits,.,.,india are safe,.,.atleast for the moment,.,.,afridi bowls and misses,.,.,the stadium erupts,.,.,.india win,.,.,.the indian players go wild celebrating,.,.,this is a real sample of the thrill that the 20-20 matches are providing,.and to write this new format off,.,.,.well.,.,.i don't know.,.,but as the venerable columnnist puts it,its not wise to judge a day until the night has fallen,.,..so lets hang around till the last ball of this 20-20 world cup is bowled.,.,till then the debate will rage,.,.,and about my views about the new format,.,..i'm savin it for another day.,.,.another time.,.,.,.watch this space