Like the society it reflects, sport offered us many different emotions in the past few days. And no, I am not talking about the madness that spread in our country when Chelsea won the English Premiership. Nor am I talking about the emotions that Tiger Woods has ignited with his faltering comeback, missing a cut and pulling out with a neck injury. Read more »
The scoresheet will identify winners and losers at the end of the 40 overs at Lord’s on Sunday in the ICC World Twenty20 final but never reflect the courage Sri Lanka have shown in returning to competitive cricket, less than four months after a daring terrorist attack on the team in Lahore.
Nor, for that matter, will it indicate how Pakistan themselves have bounced back from virtual isolation in world cricket in the wake of the Lahore attack. The final will be much more than usual T20 cricket game – it will be an amalgam of myriad emotions and yet players will have to shut out and concentrate on the ball.
To be sure, this is more than a simple game of cricket. If you look carefully beyond the cricket, you may find some dark emotions that the player so dearly want to drive away. And if you get past those as well, you may find other wonderful emotions, notably hope that flickers and powers them – and the peoples they represent. Read more »
I had no idea of what I was setting myself up for when I accepted an offer from yahoo! and its associates to travel to South Africa for the inaugural ICC World Twenty20. A votary of the conventional cricket, there was some skepticism at the back of my mind and I allowed myself to be talked into the assignment.
A journalist friend of mine from Bangladesh, asked me what I would do at T20. It is for P3 reporters, he taunted. But I had made my commitment to watch the cricket for whatever it was worth and enjoy the opportunity of watching the game. Perhaps, pegging expectations low helped and I have a feast that I am unlikely to forget in a hurry. Read more »
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