Where is the Intensity?

The mother, grandmother, great grandmother and great great great.....yeah, of all finals has come and gone. India edged Pakistan in their semi final encounter of 2011 world cup at Mohali in a spirited fight. Pakistan maintains their losing record against the Indians in the World Cup history by 5-0 just like NewZealanders who cannot advance to the finals after reaching semi finals six times in all their world cup appearances.

The current Pakistani team is by far the weakest when facing India in the World Cup. Look at any team combination of Pakistan in WC's and it had a good blend of experience, youth and a terrific bowling combination. Contrary to that, India is not the strongest, but definitely has a stronger team on the paper with a power packed batting line up.

Pakistan can make a match of the current bowling combination as well. They cannot defeat Australia for nothing. But what baffles me was a clear lack of intensity even when they were fielding and while batting as well. As a fan, it did not really excite me when someone hits a four or a six. Only point where I was eager to watch was when Umar Akmal was batting. He has definitely showed aggression. And who hasn't? Misbah ul-Haq. He may not be your 'in your face' kind of player but try and decipher his innings and please let me know if you get a hang of it.

I missed watching Sehwag's blitzkrieg and once the storm has passed the pitch turned out to be a slow turning track which defied the expectations of commentators, players and captains. The match was decided in India's favour and did you notice Harbhajan's extra ordinary intensity when Shahid Afridi got holed out? That is over action for you folks in his home ground which his pathetic bowling display so far in this world cup is forcing him to do.

After the match, my younger brother was saying that the NZ - SL semifinal clash was better than Ind - Pak. And he is right on the money there. SL had a mid match wobble after losing their top order, NZ had more than a sniff. You can see the remorse of NZ's Daniel Vettori, the loyal servant of his country.

Players were relaxed, Afridi is having a word or two with Sachin, Gul was wayward and the mother of all expressions is by Afridi, during the post match conference which anyone could hardly believe. He sounded as if it was another league match and gave full credit to India. He was smiling and enjoying coz he lost to India? As much as I love Afridi and the way he has led this rookie Pakistan team to semis, I am at loss of words to fathom his expressions.

My dear Shahid bhai, I had so much belief in you that you would lead your team from the front in this historic encounter. May be you must have done it. May be you must have hidden your tears when you closed your eyes with your hands on it when you sensed Pakistan was losing or was it an itch? I'd like to think the former. Misbah's batting was a mystery. And why was he not sent a message to go for an onslaught a little earlier? Did you not realise it it was too little too late? Why was the power play not taken a little earlier to ease the pressure on the other Pakistani batsmen? The 4 four drop catches that your team has given to Sachin Tendulkar is way beyond being courteous to the opposition. And the joy at the presentation is inexplicable. All this and more, begs one to ask the dreaded question, Is this match fixed?

I was just watching the match. But most of the fans who haven't seen previous WC encounters may not understand what I am barking here. After the fall of Pakistani's 6th wicket crackers have been going on near my house. High school kids were shouting on the streets and I noticed one guy was coming out and whistling on the road as India was inching closer to victory. The sky was lit and it made me wonder are we having a early Diwali this year.

The intensity was there in the people in the stadium, in the Indian fans and in my Pakistani brothers. Was it really there in the Pakistani team? It may have been masqueraded.

Want to see some intensity? Watch Kumar Sangakarra's Sri Lanka in the finals against India.