Another Title Bites The Dust

within a country that is plagued with corruption, poverty, crime, division over caste and religious sects, cricket is still that lone aspect that brings us all together as a single nation. and that is why we place our cricketers on a pedestal. but i think its high time we started questioning this thinking.

Glueinthedark says that this is the team's work, life, leisure. basically their whole world, and that we should cut them some slack. sadly, i disagree for if that were really true, then it would show in the way they played the game. the only comprehensive victory was in the opening game, that too against bangladesh- a team considered inferior to ours.

if our team really did spend considerable time preparing for this tournament, then the top batting line would click rather than fall (or rather collapse) after accumulating a meagre amount of runs. butt displayed the only sign of consistency in a batting line-up that is regarded as an expert in this format of the game. and ironically, butt wasnt even considered as for being part of the squad during the initial team selection process.

alright fine, ill give in to the fact that batting might not have been our strength as of late. and one could find some comfort with the likes of sami, asif, amer, tanvir, gul forming our bowling attack. yet, pakistan chose to sport a predominantly spin line-up. where new zealand's pace bowlers troubled pakistan with bouncers and short-pitched bowls, afridi and hafeez got clobbered for runs. surprisingly, razzaq went for the least amount of runs and he hasnt even been a stable part of the team lately. so where does all this time the team spent preparing for the tournament show ?

well the logical guess would be in their fielding. and that would be a very smart guess, considering the average age of the squad being around the mid-20s. but where the old and aged of other nations dove, slid and chased after balls, our youth fumbled, tripped or merely watched the ball run by while pointing at someone else to collect it.

the bare truth of the matter is that we had no place being the semi-final, a spot we only stumpled upon at the misfortune of others. the bare truth of the matter is that, like always, australia were the side who were better trained, better prepared, better played and that is why they deserved to win.

a team that was once the most feared in tests and one-dayers alike, had been reduced to being champions of a format of the game considered to be a joke by pundits of the sport. and today we lost out on that title too. we might point and laugh at other teams (india in particular) for faring worse than us, but atleast they are and will be held to strict inquisitions. what awaits our players on returning to the homeland? another commercial for a hair product or for a soft drink.

go green, go !