India vs Pakistan

Despite the madness surrounding the FIFA World Cup, today the televisions were tuned into Neo Sports for the India-Pakistan encounter.
There's something about India-Pakistan games that unleash something in the cricket fan. Something a football fan can never explain.
There is tension, but there are no riots.
There are verbal battles, but there are no deaths.
There are riot-like situations, but no riots.
And the games are usually nine out of ten times, really close encounters.
It's the only time, I see players from both sides showing the potential to be superlative sides.
Pakistan, which off late has been really crap, look brilliant. The last time I saw this brilliance, was during the semi-final with Australia in the World T20. If it weren't for Hussey, they could well have been holding the trophy yet again.
But this is about India and Pakistan.
Where else would you see Virender Sehwag make 10 in 31 balls? It's unheard off on a normal day.
Where else would you see Zaheer bowl first change in a match?
Where else would you see Harbhajan Singh play cool and collected cricket and hit a six as the winning run in the final over of a game?
I'm happy that India won, but this was a great game of cricket.
I feel bad for Shahid Afridi, because he looks like he's taking Pakistan in the right direction. He's led from the front in both games and he looks like he can make a bunch of directionless boys into a winning unit.
I hope that he doesn't prove me wrong and the next time we play, we have an even better game of cricket.

Australia have cracked the T20 format

In the first T20 World Cup, Australia looked out of sorts.
They never adapted to the shortest form of the game, the same way India and Pakistan had.
Last year, they decided to have a couple of spinners, along with Brett Lee, Nathan Bracken and Mitchell Johnson. It was a good ploy, but unfortunately for them not good enough. They were getting the hang of the format, but not consistent enough.
This year, they have adopted a four-man pace attack and it has worked.
They probably teased everyone in the warm-up game by losing to Zimbabwe. It has always been a plot that they have followed.
In 1974, when Dennis Lillee was making his comeback in the test match that shot Jeff Thompson to superstardom, Lillee was bowling military medium pace at the practice grounds. Similar tricks have been employed by the Australians in future series. The warm-up game was just another example.
India wasn't the only one to be brutalized by the four fast men. Sri Lanka got buggered last night.
In a way it's good for India. According to one of the tweets I read, Australia had to beat Sri Lanka to let India have a chance of qualifying.
It would also do India a world of good if the BCCI payed the next team India is scheduled to play to forfeit and let India qualify.
Since it is Sri Lanka, we have to find a way of tackling Malinga. Maybe Zaheer could take Malinga out for a drink and tell his Mumbai Indians bowling partner to bowl like him for this one game.
Similarly, Yuvraj can finally put himself to use and take Mahela and Sanga for an all-night party before the game. Yuvraj isn't going to make runs anyway, but this way, neither will Mahi and Sanga.
Hopefully, however, Australia's pace attack destroys everyone else to prove that India is not the only side in the world that is genuinely fucked up against fast bowling.