Our real victory

As the clock was ticking by for the much awaited clash of the two arch rivals, I was missing Pakistan more and more. I desperately wanted anything that could have landed me in Karachi within few minutes. I was itching to see the green wave in the country which I could only see every year on 14^th August and to some extent on 23rd March.

My institution’s’ PC turned TV in Denmark and the backup laptop were all ready, but still I was hoping against hope that the internet connection would work perfectly for the match that was already hyped and termed as ‘mother of all matches’.

But what happened at this match: First, we at least gave thirty runs extra which could have easily been saved had there been discipline in our bowling and fielding. Secondly, our batting faltered because of the pressure of chasing in the massive game and we gave wickets at regular intervals by playing rash strokes. It’s not India that played well in the semi final match of the cricket world cup 2011, but we ourselves threw the game and the world cup away from us that we could have won smoothly.

However, qualifying for semis with a young team, our team surprised all those who underrated it, those who were sure that this team would never be able to bounce back from a situation where there have been so many setbacks and controversies plagued the team in recent times. The critics were confident that a country that has not played cricket from some time now at its home soil could never enter semi finals of the world cup. To their astonishment, our team silenced them with reaching top of their group and qualifying for semis with a crushing victory in the quarter-finals.

For a pleasant change, probably nowhere in the country we had load shading during the match. Surely, our cricket team made Pakistanis all over the world very proud, and brought smiles back and revitalized us as a nation. There is no victory for our people significant than this in the contemporary situation the country is going through. Moreover, playing against India in India with for the first time ever Pakistan’s national anthem echoed loud in the air of Chandigarh, provided an opportunity for cricket diplomacy and the leadership of both the countries to get together and strive for much needed peace in the region. Rarely have we seen before Pakistani and Indian players smiling and patting each other's back. Without any doubts, this was one of the best matches in the history of both neighbors which was played in sportsman’s spirit.

Afridi, our Boom Boom and Lala as a captain has set example for all of us. Not only did he unified team as one unit, but his humble character on and off the filed has won people hearts. World cups, Champion trophies and other big tournaments will come again and winning and losing will go on. But our team under his captaincy in only one single tournament reaffirmed us that despite all odds, Pakistanis can excel in all fields of life. It made us realize that if

we come together as a nation under one flag, we can achieve wonders. Above all, this young team has provided an opportunity to ponder us that if we celebrate every day as a green day just like we did on 30^thMarch, we can build

our country one of the greatest in the world as dreamt by our forefathers.

With this world cup, Pakistan cricket has returned to its rightful status at the top of international cricket and we should welcome the green team home with all honors they deserve, not because they reached top four in the cricket world cup 2011, but winning our hearts by what I call ‘our real victory’. Let’s each and every one of us materialize this ‘real victory’ by achieving excellence individually as players in our fields and collectively as nation just like our cricket players and the team.