Wow! What a match! India won after playing catch-up with England for the first 3 days. They chased down a total that was 100 more than the previous highest fourth-innings chase in India. And 200 more than the highest successful chase in Chennai. Sehwag again played an amazing innings and set the match up perfectly and Yuvraj might have cemented his place in the Test team. But these are not the reasons why I loved it. Yesterday, Sachin finally exorcised the ghosts of Chennai 1999.

I still have vivid memories of that fateful final day. It was a Sunday and I had Accountancy tuition in the morning. By the time I returned and switched on the TV, India were five down with less than 100 on the board and Mongia was giving company to Sachin. All seemed lost. Surely, even for Sachin this was too much. (And mind you, this was a time when Sachin was so important to the Indian team that he played the next test in Delhi inspite of back problems because the team management thought that his absence would give Pakistan the decisive edge.)

But Sachin didn’t think so. Slowly and steadily, he built a partnership with Mongia. It was fascinating to watch him take on the fantastic Pakistan attack, comprising the great Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Saqlain Mushtaq at the peak of his powers. I sat riveted to the TV, realizing that something special was on. Everything that Akram and Saqlain threw at him, Sachin had an answer. And then, the unthinkable happened. Sachin got out. He played a lofted shot to Saqlain and was caught. I just could not believe it. Sunil Gavaskar was on air and you could sense his anger as he spoke about Sachin leaving the job unfinished. But a tie was just 16 runs away and with 3 wickets in hand it wasn’t impossible. Still I was so nervous that I sat there just listening to the commentary and not daring to look at the TV, fearing that me looking would bring bad luck. I couldn’t look but I couldn’t go away either. But the agony didn’t last long. Saqlain and Akram cleaned up the tail in no time and I sat there with tears streaming down my face as the Pakistan players jumped with joy, kissed the pitch and did a victory lap. Call me a chauvinist, but it was agonizing to watch. That India had lost was bad enough but to lose after such a superhuman effort from Sachin was hard to accept. He did not deserve to lose. Someone had said that during the 1990s the Indian team consisted of Sachin and 10 jokers and it never sounded truer.

And yesterday, after almost a decade, Sachin erased the scars of that match. He couldn’t have done it without the outrageous start given by Sehwag (rightly chosen the MoM) and the mature innings played by Yuvraj and that just makes me wonder how much more he would have achieved for India if he had got similar support during the 1990s. Credit should also be given to Dhoni, under whose captaincy the team seems to be going from strength to strength. Sachin Tendulkar is an all time great and I am thankful that I have the privilege of watching him play for India.

Online Petition

Please take the time to read and sign the below mentioned petition:
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/26novAct/petition.html

I personally do not agree with all the steps mentioned there. Politicians in India do not have the political will to implement Step1 and Step 2 is not practical. Step 3, though, has been due for a long time and at least now we should modernise our security infrastructure.

Please sign the petition and hope that it brings a change.

No cricket with Pakistan

This is in response to Sambit Bal's piece 'Why India must tour Pakistan' on Cricinfo.com. India should not tour Pakistan not because of security fears but because we need to make a statement. It is naive to compare the refusal of England to play in India with India's refusal to go to Pakistan. How can we expect our players to go to Pakistan and play cricket knowing well that this is the country responsible for the killing of hundreds of innocent fellow Indians. Yes, Sambit is right that 'It will amount to little in tangible terms if India's tour of Pakistan is called off, but it will be heavy on symbolism' and that, to be honest, is the most I've come to expect from my government. I would love it if India adopts a policy of hot pursuit of these terrorists and sends troops across the border but again, as Sambit points out, that is ‘not an option’. Pakistan is no Afghanistan and India is certainly not US.

And how can he even compare the state-sponsored terrorism from Pakistan with India’s dismal attempts at fighting terror, when he says 'It's another matter that the Indian government itself stands similarly accused'. According to him, the only thing Pakistan is guilty of is ‘prolonged inaction against terrorists originating within its borders who wreak havoc in the neighbouring country’. Someone should remind him that this is the country of ISI, the organization whose only aim seems to be to finance and promote terror in India. Pakistan has given shelter to Dawood Ibrahim, the prime accused in the 1993 Mumbai blasts, the US has spoken of evidence that proves the involvement of the ISI in the Indian Embassy bombing in Kabul. And being a senior journalist, Sambit would know better than me that a terror attack of this magnitude would not be possible without the active support of some elements in the Pakistan establishment. The reason Islamic terror has reached such horrific proportions is because of the support from countries like Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. It has been the case for years and it will remain the same in the future. Nothing that India says is going to deter Pakistan from formenting trouble in India. And definitely, India doesn’t have the ability to take any action against it except for sacrificing its numerous brave soldiers at the altar of Pakistan-bred terrorism. We, the hapless citizens of India, are doomed to live and die under the shadow of terror and violence.