Ind v/s Pak S/F - Thoughts About Match Fixing Are Baseless.. I will say Why..

First of all my congratulations and best wishes to Team India, though i was terribly disappointed at Sachin missing the "Century Of Centuries", I am glad that now he has the chance to fulfill that dream of every Indian, at the Grandest Stage Of Them All, the world cup final, at his home ground, the Wankhede..

Honestly, I am annoyed at hearing all these baseless doubts that the Semifinal was fixed.. And more over it is not coming from the Intelligence Dept / Police, or the Pakistanis who lost the match, or from the ICC.. these doubts come in the mind of Indians. Some times i feel only we can think like this.. ( as Actor Vivek often says.... athu thaan nammala paathu Worlde naduguthu..lol ). What it does is nothing but degrade the charm of our hard earned victory over arch rivals.

The doubts have been raised by many of my friends... And these are the reasons they have, to support their 'ridiculous' claim. I have my own answers for them

1. Why did not Pakistan take their Powerplay when Mis(fortunate)bah and Afridi were at the crease???
Let me answer this question with a counter question, why did not India take the powerplay when Dhoni  and Raina, the last of the recognised batsmen were at the crease? Do you then believe even these guys where fixed by the bookies?. I believe it was a wrong decision by the Pakistan think tank to delay the powerplay till the end, but to equate it to a possibility of match fixing is way overboard.

2. Misbah won the match for India with his senseless batting.
This is the way Misbah bats. Even in the T-20 world cup final in 2007, he played similiarly and almost won the match single handedly for his team. On close analysis, his and Sachin's strike rates are more or less the same. His strike rate could have been even better if he had some other batsman ( who knows how to hold his bat) at the other end, as Misbah turned down the single on atleast 5 occasions. If he had any intentions to lose this match, he could have taken the single and allowed the tail-ender to perish.

3. Our friends dropped 6 catches in all, 4 of them were that of Sachin Tendulkar's.
Well, Pakistan were never a great fielding side, and Mr.Kamran Akmal...( I still cant fathom, why he is in the team after 'losing' so many matches for Pakistan ), drops a chance per match.. so he has had an average game as per his standards. Sachin may have used up all the luck he had for the year. May be too much of Punjabi food ( characterized by liberal use of butter - the Punjabi meal is never completed without a blob of white butter ) buttered the Pakistani fingers. Add to that the pressure of World Cup Semi Final, against the arch rivals India, In India, in the middle of  29000 fans roaring for India ( I heard there were about 1000 pakistanis in the stadium including Mr.Gilani), and the temperature at Mohali, sure the butter fingers would have melted... Spare them for that..

4. India-Pakistan matches are always under the threat of match-fixing.
True. But the threat need not materialize every time it poses itself. I cant even think, given the turmoil Pakistan Cricket is in, and considering the consequences their ex-colleagues are facing ( for spot fixing ), the players would go anywhere near the bookies. But its Pakistan, the land of unpredictability. So i do not entirely close my eyes to this possibility, and those who still want to linger with the thoughts of match fixing can hang on to this point and live the day.

Each one is entitled to their own opinion. and mine is that - This match looked genuine and i believe it was genuine. I know what i think or believe need not be the 'truth'. Still i dont see this match fixed by any stretches of imagination.


Nandini (who else?? :-)