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PAKISTAN WIN WORLD CUP 2009!!

Final against Srilanka will be very tough.... But Insha'Allah we will win.
Pakistan Zindabad:pakistan:
 
http://blog.dawn.com:91/dblog/2009/06/20/to-pakistani-fans/

To Pakistani fans

Imran Yusuf offers advice to archetypal supporters of the Pakistan cricket team on the eve of the Twenty20 World Cup Final.

To the die-hard fan with an encyclopedic knowledge of Pakistan cricket who, every match, stares open-mouthed at the selection of Fawad Alam and asks, dumbfounded, ‘What is he doing there?’: Man, just get over it. It’s like the meaning of life, or one of Donald Rumsfeld’s ‘known unknowns’. Just resign yourself to the fact that some things are forever beyond the understanding of us mere mortals.

To the guy whose girlfriend has developed a really annoying crush on Shahid Afridi: An Afridi 50 means we’ll probably win the match and be World Champions. An Afridi failure means your girlfriend will go back to seeing him as a floppy-haired loser. For you, it’s a win-win situation, so stop worrying and love the Lala.

To the grand-father who keeps saying ‘Test cricket is the only cricket I’m interested in’: Nobody believes you anymore, you’ve watched every game in the tournament and every time you watch a Test match you fall asleep within 10 minutes. Also, don’t think we haven’t noticed you following the Women’s T20 World Cup…

To the nervous wreck who keeps saying that Mohammad Aamir is too young to take the new ball and also to bowl at the death: Stop looking at his age and look at his performances. He’s been superb. And in any case, he might not be 17. The ages of young Pakistani cricketers are as dubious as those of old Hollywood actresses.

To the pseudo-intellectual who despises sports, dismissing them as charades diverting the masses from their real struggles, and claims to be reading in his room but is actually listening intently through the walls whenever voices are raised: Nothing matches sport for epic drama, narrative complexity, bodily intelligence, psychological strength and sheer fun. So put down your Albert Camus novel and join us in the TV room. And for what it’s worth, Camus once wrote that ‘what I most surely know in the long run about morality and the obligations of men, I owe to sport.’ Oh, it’s not all sport you despise, only cricket? Well then, how about this from another certain favourite of yours, Harold Pinter: ‘I tend to think that cricket is the greatest thing that God ever created on earth.’ Enough said.

To the Khala who barely watches the match because she’s continuously saying duas for the team: Pakistan cricket is not that important. Besides, God created everything for all eternity, so one imagines He probably enjoys Test cricket more than T20.

To the young Khala with a glint in her eye: I don’t mind you talking about the appeal of certain players in the team, but please try to use a word other than ‘dashing’ for Younis Khan. And yes, we know that Malik used to be cuter.

To the patience testing bore who spends most of the game, irrespective of the match situation, saying, ‘But you never, ever know with Pakistan’: Perhaps that’s true, but at least one always, always, always knows with you, and what you’re going to say. Put some chilli chips in your gob and shush up.

To the young man watching with his in-laws: This is your chance to let your hair down and release all that pent-up aggression caused by endless takalluf. Spew out gaalis, jump and shout. Enjoy yourself! For one night only your mother-in-law will turn a blind eye, and who knows, maybe your father-in-law will finally take a liking to you.

To the young woman watching with her in-laws: During the match your worst fears will be confirmed. You weren’t being paranoid – they really are that weird.

To the nice person who knows nothing about cricket but is curious by nature and has a genuine anthropological interest in what’s going on: Don’t ask. Not today. I’m not being rude, I just don’t think the Twenty20 World Cup Final is the time to explain why it’s not LBW when the ball pitches outside leg-stump.

To the uber-nationalist who thinks it’s all about Pakistan, that our side is blessed with unique divine talents, that we’re only really playing ourselves because if we play well nobody can stop us, and if the other team wins, it’s only because Pakistan had an off day: That’s somewhat conceited when the opposition includes Mendis, Murali, Malinga, Sangakkara, Jayawardene, Jayasuriya, Dilshan … (I’ll stop there. This is getting depressing.)

To British-Pakistanis: If we win, make sure you celebrate like there’s no tomorrow, because there probably won’t be for you. After blowing of all those horns, you’re all going to be locked up in prison for life on charges of noise pollution.

To the college student whose opinions seem suspiciously second-hand: We read Osman Samiuddin’s articles, too.

To the girl who loves to prove she’s one of the guys and (very loudly, so the whole room can hear), bemoans – and it is always a moan – Razzaq’s lack of pace and Kamran’s attempt to pull off too many pull-shots and Malik not clearing the field: We’ve noticed you only ever say negative things about the team – a clear case of trying too hard.

To the girl who really is one of the guys and actually knows her cricket inside out: Don’t worry about the girl above. We know who you are.

To the Pakistani-American kids who are here on their summer vacation and visiting family: Watch your language. Don’t say ‘pitcher’, ‘home run’ or ‘curve ball’, no matter how appropriate these parallels might be and however much they make you feel closer to your mother culture. Oh, and while we’re at it, it’s summer ‘holiday’, not ‘vacation’.

To the insecure middle-aged man who has always been indifferent about cricket and wishes he had more interest, but hasn’t watched a game since the last World Cup: Stop saying, ‘It’s ok. Misbah is still to come, he can win us the game.’ Just stop it. Misbah’s been awful all tournament and if nobody points this out to you, it’s because they don’t want to hurt your feelings.

To the serious Uncle who cautions against unbounded optimism and doesn’t believe we’re going to win even when we need 1 run off 38 balls with 7 wickets in hand: I know you’ve been burned by the Pakistan team so many times that you don’t want to make yourself vulnerable. But what’s the point of the game if you can’t loosen up and enjoy the moments as they’re happening? So chill out, smile with your family, cheer and chant alongside them. Be free. (However, this freedom does not extend to dancing. You are still not allowed to do that under any circumstances.)

To the guy who has recently found religion and now perceives it in everything he sees: When Pakistan win a match, it is not a victory for Islam and a triumph over infidels, just as, when we lose, it is not punishment from God.

To the Pakistani who is supporting Sri Lanka because of the wonderful time she had on holiday there, because the people there are so nice, and it’s a beautiful country: Why watch the match when there’s a direct flight from Quaid-e-Azam International to Colombo at 21.30? Oh, how we will miss you. Do send a postcard. Cheerio.

To the friend who masks his inner passion, nervousness and juvenile hope with an aloof demeanor and smart-*** one-liners: Stop being ironic about everything. It’s alright to lose your cool and admit your heart soars and leaps and does somersaults at the glorious sight of an Umer Gul run-up.

To all of us: In ‘Song of Myself’, Walt Whitman writes, ‘I also say it is good to fall, battles are lost in the same spirit in which they are won.’ Win or lose, if our team play with passion and commitment, we should all applaud them for the heroes they are, and thank them for the joyous diversion they’ve provided over these past two weeks. (Yeah right! If we lose, see you at Liberty Market for a good old-fashioned dose of effigy burning.)
 
chak de..chak de ....Pakistan world cup chak le!!!
maar de..maar de ..Misbah chakke(sixer) mar de!!!

Everything ok ? peace ???lol i think indian exit from world cup hurt your real bad.

You are indian and you are just not suppose to support pakistan in a criket match. lol , its a sports and its always good to have healthy rivalary. :bunny:
 
I will support Sri Lanka. They deserve to win coz they have remained undefeated till now unlike Pakistan.
Go Sri Lanka Go.:victory:
 
It will be the game of toss. The team batting first will win the final so Younis must practice to win the toss. If Windies had won yesterday we could have hoped that Pakistan will bat first because they would bat second even after winning the toss. But let’s see what happens tomorrow.

Best of Luck to Pakistan team!:pakistan:

This world cup would be for the Muslims of sub-continent and the whole world.
 
I don't know about you guys, but i'll be sitting infront of my PC (unfortunately not TV) and watch the match with a huge Pakistani flag acting as a cape for me.
Oh man, wish I was in either Pakistan or England at the moment to celebrate this with brothers and sisters.
Whatever happens, our squad has done the unimaginable, the unforgettable.
:pakistan:

Men with je ne sais quoi

Pakistan's march to the final is a tale of teams sometimes do things nobody expects them to



Who knows how these things come about? Wonderful things happen in this world that we struggle to explain, and that is no bad thing. That, in fact, contributes to the very beauty of those things. Pakistan is replete with such inexplicability, not least those occasions when their cricket team is on a roll when absolutely nothing suggests they can be.

Consider how Pakistan came into this tournament. They had played a piffling 10Tests and 50 ODIs since the beginning of 2007; no other side was that undercooked. Their last international home assignment was interrupted by a terrorist attack, which, in effect, meant they will not have any more home assignments for some time. And they weren't exactly rushed off their feet before then. They weren't allowed by their own government to take part in the IPL, and in short found themselves outcasts as cricket was reborn.

When they arrived in England, they practised and played fully burdened by this. Some of their performances - wins and losses - only reaffirmed their general rustiness. They dropped more catches than Oprah lost pounds, they didn't find the right XI until the second game of the Super Eights. Their captain, apparently, wasn't taking the whole thing seriously enough; that he was among the tournament's leading run-scorers, even though his own chief selector didn't think him a Twenty20 player, only revealed how the rest of the batting was struggling. The bowling hit and missed. Not to forget, of course, the permanent rumours of rifts, cliques and intrigues, in the absence of which it is entirely plausible the whole Pakistani state might collapse.

And yet here they stand, on the verge of winning a tournament nobody outside their own camp (and only some inside it) really gave them a shot at. A triumph it already is, come what may Sunday. Astrophysics may be easier to comprehend than this situation, even if it is unlikely astrophysics has ever brought as much joy as this. :pakistan:

It has been an uneven, uplifting ride, in the best traditions of Pakistan. It is the kind that lights up a big tournament. Just to know that they are still capable of it is relief in itself; indeed the worst fear over the last two years was that Pakistan had succumbed to the curse of bland mediocrity. But to know that they are still capable of doing what they did to South Africa in the same fortnight as what they allowed England to do to them, is to know that the soul of all Pakistan sides is alive and well.

It is a complex soul, built on tigerish defiance, outlandish talent and bravado but also drama, tragedy and farce all at once. It is not entirely what we saw in the 1999 World Cup, for that was a strangely well-grooved, dominant Pakistan. It wasn't entirely what we saw in the inaugural World Twenty20 either, for even then Pakistan seemed eerily consistent. No, this run has been of a piece with, as nobody in Pakistan has forgotten, the 1992 World Cup, where, for no obvious reason, Pakistan suddenly transformed from a mohalla second XI into the world's best. Everything came together to some great, central magnetic pull, as if it inevitably had to, in a wonderfully calculated way even though almost none of it was calculated.

The progress has been visceral, based on instincts good and bad, using mostly their acute lack of international cricket to play with real verve and energy, a real hunger to perform on the big stage so often denied to them. They have progressed for no other reason than that they have wanted it more than others

Then, as now, Pakistan played a succession of do-or-die games and lived to not just tell the tale but boast about it. Not always, but often, that situation brings out the fight in Pakistan. It makes sense in a way when Shahid Afridi says he plays each game as if it is his first and last. It is a curious way of approaching sport, but he isn't alone in that, and if you have four do-or-die games, as Pakistan have had in this tournament, it isn't the worst attitude in the world to go into them with. If it doesn't scramble focus, it sharpens it.

Then, as now, they have sensed momentum and grasped it, not fully in control but riding it nevertheless. How it's found is arbitrary. In 1992, the win against Australia and a legendary talking-to sparked it. Here, Afridi's catch turned not only the game against New Zealand, but Pakistan's tournament. And suddenly, inexplicably, things began to fall into place, a chain reaction that simultaneously made sense and no sense.

One XI was settled upon at just the right time, openers found, batting order rejigged, and it has rolled along since. Abdul Razzaq's return was not spectacular, but his impact was vital. His two wickets set up the New Zealand win, but his threat - perceived or real - with bat freed up Afridi. Such things are not planned and cannot be accounted for. Other heroes emerged swiftly; Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Aamer, even young, ungainly Shahzaib Hasan, all rallying around a captain, who by the time South Africa came along, was not smiling so much any more, or treating the whole shebang as a bit of fun.

What didn't fall into place simply ceased to matter. They dropped two catches against South Africa and their wicketkeeper had his first poor game in some time behind the stumps. But it didn't matter, for at critical moments it went right for them, like Shoaib Malik's calm pocketing of a Jacques Kallis loft, and even Fawad Alam's direct hit to send back Albie Morkel. Aamer had forgotten to run to the non-striker's end to collect Alam's throw, a very basic lapse that ultimately didn't matter.

So much have things fallen into place that, just as in 1992, when Imran Khan shunned prevalent bowling caution and told his attack to forget about extras and only concern themselves with wickets, so Pakistan rendered tenets of modern-day cricket a little less relevant in this tournament. Preparation, fitness, fielding, discipline, unity and multi-dimensional players - these have mattered less as Pakistan have gone along, and in a sense that has made it even more wonderful, this happy, uncaring mockery of the way professional sport is heading. The progress has been visceral, based on instincts good and bad, using mostly their acute lack of international cricket to play with real verve and energy, a real hunger to perform on the big stage so often denied to them. They have progressed for no other reason than that they have wanted it more than others.

Good news was needed desperately and not for the first time cricket has been the bearer

How necessary this run was, too, unlike 1992. Pakistan was a safer country then and a safer bet in cricket. There is no need to recount in detail what is happening to the country. There is war in parts of it and not much cheer in the rest. Conflicts have weighed heavily on the minds of at least three players from the particularly unsettled NWFP. It is apt that the trio - Afridi, Younis and Gul - have done most to drag Pakistan to where they are, but no player is immune to the gloom. Good news was needed desperately and not for the first time - but for the first time in a long time - cricket has been the bearer. The mood will not change drastically whatever happens against Sri Lanka.

It was necessary also in this uncertain new world of cricket, where there is more money and less time, a world which was in danger of passing Pakistan by. By reaching the final of the premier World Twenty20 event twice, Pakistan has said to one and all that they are still a force, no matter what the strife, that they cannot be ignored or sidelined in this world. Men such as Afridi, Gul, Akmal and Ajmal cannot be ignored in this world. They can contribute richly to it.

Pakistan matters because no team could have pulled off what they have just pulled off and in the manner they did. Their march has not been just a great cricketing tale or a fine sporting one; it is a simpler, more important one of how men do things sometimes nobody expects them to, of how from any darkness light can emerge. Even if we're not sure how the tale was written, how long it will go on and when, or whether, it will happen again, we must celebrate it, be grateful for it and not forget it. :tup:

Osman Samiuddin is Pakistan editor of Cricinfo.
 
im goin to london to see the match with my friends. not lords. its just gonna be some sports bar....
when we had a final against australia, my whole family and i went to murree to watch it. but we lost and that whole trip to murree ended up in a disaster.
 
It will be the game of toss. The team batting first will win the final so Younis must practice to win the toss. If Windies had won yesterday we could have hoped that Pakistan will bat first because they would bat second even after winning the toss. But let’s see what happens tomorrow.

Best of Luck to Pakistan team!:pakistan:

This world cup would be for the Muslims of sub-continent and the whole world.

i would dedicate it to all the cricket lovers - wherever they may be!:pakistan:
 
im goin to london to see the match with my friends. not lords. its just gonna be some sports bar....
when we had a final against australia, my whole family and i went to murree to watch it. but we lost and that whole trip to murree ended up in a disaster.

wish you Good Luck!:pakistan:
 
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