Gautam Gambhir was one of the stars of the chase (Photo courtesy: Google Images)

What a night! A night to beat all other nights hollow! A night when the Men in Blue took centre-stage, with a performance none can find flaws in. It was incredible to see a team which was faltering during the World Cup, gain momentum and produce a less than a perfect performance, but still good enough to stun Australia in the quarterfinal, a doddering performance to stamp out Pakistan in the semifinal and come back strongly to reduce Sri Lankan grit to dust in the finals.

The night was incredibly perfect, as the calm, cool and collected captain MS Dhoni received the Man of the Match award and the flamboyant Yuvraj Singh the Man of the Series prize, but I could not help but feel sorry for the man of the moment Gautam Gambhir for not getting a share of the recognition with Dhoni. After all, his innings is what made the huge task look so surmountable in the first place.

And to think that like millions of fans, my quaking heart reduced me to a morose, depressed fan through the day. While my head insisted I overcome my sense of loss and prepare to sing paens to Sri Lanka, looking up each time to see Mahela Jayawardhane hit a four, reducing Indian bowling and fielding to naught. The heart triumphed and I decided to leave office to grieve in private, heart sinking to my knees, darkness enveloping me as Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar fell, even as Lasith Malinga rose to demonic proportions and I prepared for the inevitable.

When I reached home an hour later, Gambhir was still batting and all I could hope for was a decent loss, bracing myself for the crumbling middle-order, which we have all been witness to. Much later, he was still at the crease, raising his bat to acknowledge his fifty. While my heart recovered a little, the head kept saying `Don’t be silly, the target is still a long way off’.

But Gambhir’s 50 and the calm demeanour made my heart believe, maybe there is a miracle waiting to happen here and like a numb, defeated soldier I got up to pray my hardest in years, to beg God to give this incredible team a win. I believed throughout that it truly deserved it and I could possibly not be so wrong.

Though Team India was not performing to potential, it had still managed to tumble its way into the final, triumphing over Australia (when I thought team India was still finding its footing and it seemed too early to face Australia, after all an early knockout a very `real’ possibility) and quelling Pakistan’s rising strength in a thrilling semifinal. On the contray, Sri Lanka had an easy run up to the final, a no result thanks to rain against Australia, beating the West Indies in the quarter finals and then quelling New Zealand a team certainly not worthy of a semifinal place.

Gambhir’s steady and responsible partnership with Virat Kohli pumped my heart back to life, my voice rising in decibels as I cheered him, praying for them to keep going, as the target diminished at an agonizing slow pace of only a run or two off a ball. But what the heck, Gambhir and Kohli knew and the Indian fans knew that it was not a time to hit the big fours…not yet anyways.

And then Kohli fell, to a incredible return catch by Tillekeratne Dilshan and as I watched Dilshan pump himself, my distressed heart nose-dived again. With just 114 on board, the challenge seemed huge. But I am glad Gambhir did not think so and went on stoically. At this point it was a respite to see Mr. Calm himself walk in, instead of the not so bratty now Yuvraj, whose knocks would have lifted the innings but could have also plummeted hopes further.

A miracle still seemed a long way off, as millions of fans sympathised with the captain, as he tried hard to keep the sweat off his eyes, frequenting removing the helmet and adjusting, as he steeled himself to a long innings, which had evaded him through the entire run of the World Cup. I fell in love with the man twice, first when he lay sprawled on the ground, as his physio helped him stretch and release the pain and pressure, only to resume. The second time was when on the last ball, he focused on the ball, his bulging eyes not blinking once, as he hit a massive six to finish off the Sri Lankan challenge. While Yuvraj screamed, the captain simply tucked his bat under his left arm and looked to remove the stumps.

For a second, it seemed so unreal and I switched to victory mode, only when Yuvraj hugged Sachin like a kid and Harbhajan Singh’s tears rolled down, to be soon joined by mine, as an incredible World Cup season ended for me too. A month and a half of making sense of a World Cup, came to an end for me, which has been boring in most parts, only a few games worthy of a World Cup performance, most featuring team India .

With the final against Sri Lanka just two days away, the team itself may have quickly shifted its focus to calming its nerves and preparing for that massive game against Sri Lanka. But it appeared as if all India, unconcerned yet about the preparations for the final, was in a celebratory mood.

Each of us lost no time in picking our favourite freeze frames from the match. And those who had questioned skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s wisdom in choosing left-arm paceman Ashish Nehra over spin bowler R Ashwin quickly overcome such thoughts and joined the bandwagon of praise for his assured captaincy.

There was one frame that etched itself on my mind and I have to thank Shahid Afridi and Zaheer Khan – and their smiles – for that. Afridi chipped Zaheer Khan to mid-wicket and the ball dropped just short of the fielder there and managed just a single. As Afridi complete the run, he must have exchanged notes with Zaheer and they both broke into a smile. It was a lovely sight.

Of course, there were as many such scenes during the game – be it Harbhajan Singh exulting after bowling Umar Akmal or Sachin Tendulkar after taking a catch to dismiss Wahab Riaz or Mahendra Singh Dhoni uncharacteristically rushing to congratulate Harbhajan Singh on his claiming a wicket or Munaf Patel being hugged by Suresh Raina and Virender Sehwag.

Come to think of it, we loved the amazing spirit with which the teams played the match. Despite the unprecedented hype and hoopla that preceded the game, there was not a hint of acrimony on the field that some expected in the high-voltage clash. This was highlighted when Ashish Nehra did not claim a catch after fling himself forward at deep mid-wicket.

Our hearts also reached out when Afridi showed grace at the post-match presentations and poignantly when he unhesitatingly said “I want to say sorry to the people of Pakistan.” He knew India was the superior team and he knew that his team had to do something out of the ordinary to beat India in Mohali – and the closest that it went to that was Wahab Riaz’s incisive bowling.

Quite inevitably, as sonn as the cricket ball found safety in Virat Kohli’s hands to signal the completion of the match, India erupted in joy. The ultra-rich and the poor were all bound by a common thread that delighfully spelt victory. A diverse nation was united by emotions like relief and satisfaction, delight and, above all, national pride.

Cell phones across the country were buzzing, with calls and text messages dominaing the air waves; News TV channels forgot how they had raised questions about this team’s ability when it tied with England and lost to South Africa and tirelessy talking through the night about India’s victory over Pakistan and its after-effects. FM stations joined the festivities, too.

Thursday’s newspapers were expectedly euphoric, with cricket and ‘cricket diplomacy’ taking up most of the frontpage space. “After this… the Cup’s a Bonus” said one headline, reflecting the thoughts of most fans. A dispassionate observer may be forgiven if he thought that India had already won the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, except of course for some exceptional reminders.

Yet, I would like you to pause for a moment and think: Does it need only a victory on the field of sport for India to feel proud of itself? Should we not seek such success in many other walks of life? Should we depend on cricket alone – and less frequently, other sport – to raise the morale of our nation and our self-esteem? Should we invest all our emotions in cricket?

I remember speaking with a wonderful ad-man Piyush Pandey some weeks ago and he pointed out that we are not competing so visibly against anyone in other areas and hence cricket causes such mass sentiments. Our film stars are not up against their contemporaries from Hollywood.  And when composer AR Rahman wins an Oscar or two, we do break out in some celebrations.

To be sure, cricket has fuelled an aggression in India but we desperately need such success in other streams of life too.The sooner our nation finds them the better it will be for us as we ride the bullish emotion and get ready to take on the world. Until that happens, we have much to thank the Indian cricket team for.

To me, Wednesday night was not just about the emotional outpouring of a cricket-crazy nation. It was about this wonderful country’s eagerness to be bound as one; it is about its diverse peoples collective desire to encourage success. The question is: who or what else is ready to capture the imagination of vast majority of the 1.2 billion people and make their hearts swell with pride.

(This piece has been written for Hindi newspaper Prabhat Khabar)

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.

“I think it is a fitting reward for the courage that the team has shown in this tournament,” Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara said after the semifinal win over the West Indies. “What Lahore got home to us was the fact that we are just the same as anyone else. It is great the way the guys have prepare mentally and we are concentrating on cricket.”

The genial Pakistan captain Younis Khan also indicated that the ICC World Twenty20 would mean a lot to the people of Pakistan. “Our law and order situation is not the best; there is a lot of fighting going on,” he said. “If we win this title, it will be a good change for my people – especially those from the north where I hail from.”

To sit down and assess the cricketing talent of the sides squaring up in the second successive all-Asian Derby in the final of the ICC World Twenty20 would be in some ways reducing the beauty of this game that amply reflects the life and times we live in, mirrors the society in which the teams learn and play their cricket.

On March 3, when gunmen attack the Sri Lankan team bus and left the cricket world wounded permanently, few would have wagered on the team from the teardrop island in the Indian Ocean and the side from a nation that is ravaged by strife making it to the title clash of the first ICC competition.

But it is a tribute to the competitive spirit of the men from both nations that they have not only willed themselves on but have beaten some very good sides to make it to the final. And, what is more, the two teams have kept a low profile, Sri Lanka despite winning all six games in the tournament so far.

Now, Sri Lanka and Pakistan – armed with sets of wonderfully gifted cricketers with different skill sets but united by a singularity of purpose – will have to send all thoughts and emotions to the sub-conscious and focus on optimising the talent over 40 overs so they can lay their hands on the coveted prize.

The teams:

Sri Lanka (from): Kumar Sangakkara (captain, wicket-keeper), Sanath Jayasuriya, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene, Chamara Silva, Jehan Mubarak, Angelo Mathews, Lasith Malinga, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis, Isuru Udana. Indika de Saram, Nuwan Kulasekara, Farvez Maharoof and Thilan Thushara.

Pakistan (from): Younis Khan (captain), Kamran Akmal (wicket-keeper), Shahzaib Hasan, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Misbah-ul-Haq, Abdul Razzaq, Fawad Alam, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Aamer, Umar Gul, Salman Butt, Sohail Tanvir, Ahmed Shehzad and Iftikhar Anjum.

Damn Black Tuesday.

It has been 37 years since there has been a terrorist attack on ambassadors of sports and I have been stunned out of my belief that terrorists would not target sportspersons. I have advocated that when I have been asked if it is safe for cricket teams to tour Pakistan, Sri Lanka and, in the wake of the 26/11 attack on Mumbai, India.

For more than three and a half decades after the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, I have firmly believed that no terrorist organisation will want the adverse publicity that comes along with its action against a sports event or sportspersons. I have always cited my own happy experiences of touring Sri Lanka and Pakistan

Of course, there have been other instances of attacks on sportspersons – Monica Seles was stabbed by a Steffi Graf fan in 1993, a bomb blast at the Centennial Park in Atlanta during the 1996 Olympic Games (and I was not far from the scene) while Iraqi athletes and sports officials were persistent targets in 2006.

Yet, I kept insisting that sportspersons and sporting events were safe from terror attacks. Black Tuesday will change all that. The brazen bid on the lives of the Sri Lankan cricketers on the streets of Lahore leaves me stupefied and wondering if I have been naïve or foolish to think that terrorists will not want to target sportspersons

It is not just my perception that will change because of this experience. I shudder to think of how the Sri Lankan cricketers can have nightmares of what they have gone through. I wonder when cricket teams will visit Pakistan again, leaving the Pakistan Cricket Board – and perhaps the country itself – to find alternative revenue streams now.

Damn Black Tuesday. It will lead to a rethink on the ICC World Cup 2011, slated to be organised jointly by India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. We may end up seeing the event being taken out of the sub-continent altogether. You can expect India to fight against that from happening.

You can expect more layers of security when you go to big-ticket events like T20 games, including IPL, ODIs and Test matches. Given that there is talk of IPL 2009 being rescheduled, the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi will be one of the first such mega events where no compromises are made on the security of the sports community.

For the moment, I am grateful that the Sri Lankan team has not suffered any fatalities. The team bus driver Mehar Mohammed Khalil has to be thanked and praised for his calmness under incredible pressure and his presence of mind in driving the coach through the attack to the Gaddafi Stadium.

My prayers are with the cricket fraternity – Sri Lankan and Pakistani – and hope that God grants them the strength to overcome the impact of the tragedy and soon be able to regale us with their wonderful talent. My prayers are for the reserve umpire Ehsan Raza who is the most critically injured despite match referee Chris Broad’s bid to save him.

There is not much I can do now but pray.