The first ever ICC World Cup Final between two Asian nations.

Pakistan have never beaten India in a World Cup game.

There have been numerous shockers in this World Cup, but I guess none bigger than Haroon Lorgat's comment to defend Wankhede Stadium as the venue for the Cricket World Cup 2011 final.

Wankhede Stadium is the second smallest international cricket stadium in India, but apparently that does nothing to convince the ICC to look for other venues because the ICC does not believe when the elders say ' Home is where is the heart is '.

Yes, the ICC asks you to provide a better ending to Sachin Tendulkar's fairytale and they might consider changing the venue ! you heard it right mate, Haroon Lorgat claims there could be no better ending than Sachin scoring a hundred in the final and lifting the trophy at his home ground. if seeing is believing for you, here you go !

So many questions arose in my mind that it eventually seized to function and I'm at a total loss of words. Wankhede stadium has a capacity of 33,000 spectators compared to 63,000 at Eden Gardens, and 50,000 each at the Feroz Shah Kotla and Mohali (to name a few).

Apparently a few thousand spectators not being able to watch the World Cup final (hosting the home team I may add) isn't actually that significant you see - compared to one man whose final (probably) world cup appearance "should" be glorified !
You realise that the poor guy hasn't lifted a World cup yet dont you ?! He's entertained us so much over the years so it becomes our moral duty to help this little Cindrella meet her prince.

Now just like Paul the Octopus was able to predict the results of all the Euro 2008 and Soccer world cup 2010 results correctly. I think the Lord of the Worlds had plans to keep his mysterious powers on Earth even after he passed away, and so passed them on to Mr. Lorgat who could predict:

1) India plays the World cup final in the first place
2) Sachin Tendulkar scores a century
3) India wins the World cup

If you feel this is harsh and the new octopus just wanted to draw a picture of the world going insane at Wankhede once Sachin gets his hands on to the trophy, and it was just an innocent thought - do you think 'just a thought' is justification enough for depriving approximately 30,000 fans of watching the world cup final without having to file a leave request at work and flying to another country to do so ?

And if this thought 'co-incidentally' falls into place, I think it should raise more eyebrows than certain recent events did.

When was the last time Pakistan chose their playng 11 keeping in view the strength of the opposition ?

Following Pakistan cricket we all have seen opposition sides struggling at 50-4 or 100-5. But when was the last time Pakistan did not allow the tail enders to drag the score beyong 200 and make a match of it ?

Do you remember Pakistan changing a winning combination (that beat Australia) just to counter the conditions and the plan of the rival batsmen ?

When ever did Pakistan's openers bat with utmost responsibility so as to finish the game off themselves, and at the same time look so damn comfortable in the middle and not give us any thoughts of a pakistan style collapse happening ?

Pakistan are slow starters man - just wait and watch . This used to be our typical response when Pakistan used to lose initial matches of high profile tournaments, and secretly pray and hope that they would bounce back somehow

Was there ever a world cup when Pakistan did not have to rely on team X beating team Y by A amount of runs ? Or another match to be washed out by rain ? for them to qualify for the second round

When was the last time Pakistan topped their group ? And was the first team to qualify for the Semi's ?

And C'mon Gents ! did you ever think Pakistan's strength would be their spin bowling ? with barely 2 fast bowlers in the side !! used to give me nightmares

This time around, Pakistan is not hanging around and hoping that history repeats itself. It's time we rewrite it from A to Z, page by page - word by word - and alphabet BY alphabet !

Pakistan is thinking about their team combinations, analyzing their strength and working on their weaknesses.

Pakitan is just so glad the world did not give them a chance at this world cup, cuz the last time this happened - we went on to lift the cup :)

We love to covince ourselves with reasons on why Pakistan will go on to lift the trophy. Many have written on the same subject, and a couple of the reasons listed below might also be identical to the ones you have read earlier. There might be more (definitely), but these are the similarities between the 1992 campaign and the the one underwary right now. Some of these repeated themselves in our victory in the T20 World cup in 2009 as well, and back home when a particular series of events recur and give us what we want to see.. we stamp them as pre-requisites for times to come. Let's have a look and feel good till we can :

1) Intikhab Alam

Ask a newborn in Pakistan who do you want as the National cricket teams coach and he'l say Intikhab Alam. He wouldn't even know how Intikhab uncle looks like but he'l know that this was the same coach who was with us when we won the World cup in 1992 and even when we won the T20 World cup in 2009. Even though he isn't coach, his mere presence has charged the team up, or maybe it's just the effect of a rare sane person in the squad.

2) Aqib Javed

One more personality in the same category as above is the man who was spotted by Imran khan when he was 17 years old. He bowled in the 1992 World Cup with the intelligence that can be branded as gifted (who can forget his slower delivery which got Mark Greatbatch).
Give him extra points as he was the bowling coach in the T20 campaign in 2009 as well. Imran Khan always said he was more intelligent than Wasim and Waqar, it's time to show the world how true this is.

3) Led by a Khan

The only times we have won World Titles was when our leader had a Khan tag.
Imran Khan did it 1992
Younus Khan did it in 2009
and Shahid Khan will do it in 2011

4) Beating the unbeaten

New Zealand was an unbeaten side in the 1992 WC, the only side to beat them was Pakistan. The cornered tigers actually humbled them twice. The most memorable was the one that came in later in the Semi finals

South Africa romped over all their opponents in the 2009 T20 WC, until the men in green put the breaks on in a nail biting finish

Our men have already given an indication on what is to come by beating the unbeaten Aussies and putting to halt what has been an amazing winning streak of 34 games on the trott spanning 3 World cup tournaments.

5) Dethrone Australia

Whom did we dethrone when we won the cup in 1992 ?
Australia

Whom do we have dethrone when we do it again on the 2nd of April 2011 ?
Oops ! Australia again


The only two times we won the title, the captain quit (atleast that particular form of the game). Imran khan called it quits after 1992 and Younus khan announced his retirement from the T20 version. Only if Afridi can make a similar announcement, this should be the final nail in the coffin.

Here's to Pakistan's Third ICC World Title !

Having lunch a day before the world cup kicked off 'in style i may add' , a colleague just started off with 'what a lame decision to appoint Afridi as captain', paused for a while and continued 'a player who doesnt even know what role he has in the team '
I tried to inquire and understand why he (or they actually) as a couple more stepped in and agreed in unison, thought this way ?
They : He thinks he can bat but he cant !
Me: Well, to be precise Afridi himself says he is a bowler who can bat a bit
They: Well, only if he could bat sensibly, our generations wouldn't waste their talent trying to copy him ! if he dint bat the way he does, our youngsters would have better role models to follow Me: How is it his fault if people follow him and want to bat like him?
Afridi doesn't go about knocking on every door begging people to slog like hehe does ? He was actually drafted in as a replacemen to Mushtaq Ahmed and not Javed Miandad if you know !
They: Well he makes silly decisions as a captain, takes too much pressure and presses the panic button almost instantly
Me: Would you rather have the reactive and boring captaincy of Inzimam then who would wait for a couple of boundaries to be hit in a particular direction before a planting a fielder there ? or would you want someone like Mohammad Yousuf to lead you who thinks spreading the field with 6 fielders outside the circle is the way to attack when you have a tailender on the crease and a bowler like Mohd Amir on the runup ?

I think it's time we started to try and accept Shahid Khan Afridi the way he is। He is impulsive but fuels aggression in the side - He shouts and screams on the field but let's the seniors take center stage when they want to - He runs like a maniac after holding on to a catch and that believe me is enough catalyst to wake up a napping Pakistan side ! I believe this is all this side needs to win। You don't teach them how to bat with a straight bat, or what to say at the post match presentation, or how to behave on the field ! You tell them to go in and tear the opposition apart, YES ! exactly like Imran Khan did in 1992 and if anyone in this squad is good at this, it is only one man ! The Magician, The Pathan, It is Pakistan cricket's Superman, it is Boom Boom Afridi.

However they fare at this tournament, I'm somehow convinced that Afridi and his men will try, and try their best।
Did we forget how the South Africans greeted their team when they lost the semi's in 1999?
They landed at the airport to placards saying "You tried, and we love you"
In 1992, it wasn't just the team, it wasn't only the determination to win, not just a sincere person leading the team but prayers flying in from all corners of Pakistan.

Do you think it's time we give them what they've been missing ?

Sad, disgusted, no hope left, I knew it, I can’t believe it....these were
just some of the few emotions and expressions that were going through mine
and almost certainly another 180 million plus minds around the world, when
Mr. Kamran Akmal dropped Ross Taylor twice, which almost guaranteed that
Pakistan lose the match from that point onwards. But why are we so shocked?
Now that I think about it while keeping my emotions in check, Pakistan
Cricket is just another reflection of the country Pakistan itself. You
can’t blame Kamran, we know he’s useless, but blame the person who gave him
the job. Just like the inept and incompetent leadership that has been
bestowed to our beautiful country, our cricket administration is in
shambles. So how can we expect our PCB to make any right decision by
choosing the right administrators and players, when the only model they have
in front of them is of a corrupt and ineffectual government. We can only
speculate the reason; why Kamran Akmal is still wicket keeping in the most
prestigious Cricketing Event in the world, but we know for sure that his
skills and abilities have nothing to do with it. Sad but true that this also
goes for almost every state run organization in Pakistan. Pakistan’s hopes
being ‘dropped’ over and over again by individuals we place our expectations
in.
As far as Kamran Akmal is concerned; they say its insanity when you keep
doing the same thing and expect different results. We can’t expect any magic
behind the stumps while we keep persisting with Mr. Akmal.

Drop Hafeez.