The magic of Indo-Pak cricket

The fact that an India-Pakistan match has more needle than any other is well known, as is the fact that for players of either side, it is the single most searching examination they face on a cricket field. The fact that everytime these two countries play, both sets of fans expect the moon and more from their teams is also known.

What is remarkable about the two teams is not that they manage to play on under that intense pressure, but that every so often, they pull out matches that send journalists and tv anchors searching for yet more synonyms for words such as 'thriller' or 'cliffhanger'. Looked at one way, though - it is not that remarkable.

So many of the matches that India and Pakistan have played have gone the distance because neither set of players were ready to give an inch to the other till the very end, and even beyond that.

And today, the players came through with flying colours. This was - possibly - amongst the least buzz-generating of Indo-Pak clashes.

The Asia Cup was being played at the end of a season in which even the most ardent cricket fan was feeling over-stuffed with cricket, and for competition, it had the grandest spectacle of sport being played half-way across the world in South Africa. And yet, the magic of the match drew the audience in.

As the match wound down to its inevitable cliffhanger finish (I've kept away from the Thesaurus!), there was a palpable air of greater and greater spectator participation. This was backed by the numbers at CricBuzz, where traffic spiked sharply towards the climax of the match.

In the context of the series, this was an important match, since a loss here means Pakistan are out of the running for the finals, and India are through. However, in the context of classic ODI matches between the two sides, this one should not be compared to THAT Javed Miandad match in Sharjah. When Miandad hit a six to win the match, he did it off the last ball, when he knew that the only option to make Pakistan win was a hit beyond the ropes.

Harbhajan's hit was emotionally charged no doubt, but it must be remembered that it came when India needed 3 runs off 2 balls. In the age of hype, it is inevitable that comparisons with Javed Miandad's last-ball six will be endlessly made, but for my money, the match-winning six wasn't even the most gladdening shot of this match.

That honour went to the boundary Suresh Raina hit off the 5th ball of the 48th over, when he bisected wide long-on and deep mid-wicket with a precision that would have made Lionel Messi proud had it been a football that pierced a ring of defenders so accurately.

And although this match might not have been the absolute best the two countries have fought, its timing was more critical than perhaps any that they have played.

The erstwhile Golden Goose of international cricket - the One Day International - is besieged by threats of extinction from all sides, but if ever administrators needed a reminder that if properly scheduled and played between sides of equal intensity and skill, ODIs deliver a drama that far super-cedes that of the hurly-burly of T20 cricket, this match was it.

The answer to reviving ODIs does not lie in splitting innings and changing the nature of the game just so that fans get to see Virender Sehwag bat twice on the same day. It lies in creating the atmosphere that promotes the maximum competition, and by extension, the greatest drama. Cricket Australia have been sent a gift-wrapped reminder of what it is an ODI can do, and of how it can create a much more satisfying after-taste than a similarly dramatic T20 match.