Ok, so the Kiwi bird might not be able to fly but the Kiwi cricket team's march to the finals of the Champions Trophy is no flight of fancy!
Yes, they have made it to this year's CT finals, beating Pakistan in a superb chase at the Wanderers!
If I'm not wrong, NZ - the perennial underdogs/dark horses - had reached 8 semifinals of major tournaments but when it come to winning those semis, they could win and qualify for only 1 final. (Incidentally, the one final they reached was of the Champions Trophy only - inaugual edition held in Kenya, circa 2000 and they even won the final and the trophy by beating Sourav Ganguly's newly formed Team India - it was also the debut series/tournament of a certain Yuvraj Singh).
Well, make that count of semis-to-final conversion as 2 now!
And to do so by beating Pakistan, that too in foreign territory, when the Pakis were at full strength and using their strength (bowling) to stop NZ from winning the match.
I guess I might not be a mature, just-appreciate-the-cricket fan, and I still subscribe to the Pak-loses-to-anybody = India wins equation, which is obviously incorrect and unfair. But I have to admit that no matter how objective I try to be, I just cannot stop feeling happy on seeing Pakistan lose.
If there's anything that is comparable to the happiness of India winning, it is to either see Australia lose against anybody (to see a David win against these cricketing Goliaths), or to see Pakistan lose (c'mon, do I even have to tell why?!).
Oh, wait a sec, what abt Aus Vs Pak - I'd rather see Aus win!
What cathartic enjoyment it was to see the Kiwis chase down a moderate but pretty defendable 233 that the Pakis had set.
All the more commendable, given that the NZ batting line-up doesn't really boast of superstars and even with the resources at their disposal, they were playing without the injured Ryder and Styris.
Supeb stuff from Ian Butler and Vettori with the bowling, followed by an awesome finish with the bat by Grant Elliott and yes, you guessed it - Daniel Vettori again!
The best part about the chase was the manner in which they went about chasing the target without losing their wits. For all those who berate Dravid for his snail paced efforts, Elliott's innings was much the same (75* off 103 balls) in strike rate as Dravid's against Pakistan the other night (76 off 103 balls). Yes, the target for India was 70 runs more (304 as against 234) but the point is that India were always ahead of the required run rate. It was the wickets that were the key and that's basically the point that showed up here too.
As I said, this NZ batting line-up didn't even have many big hitters, with the exception of McCullum and Taylor (and they too, couldn't really ensure a win for NZ before getting out). Their batting always looked thin on paper - surely thinner than India's.
But look how they managed their chase, didn't throw their wickets away even when the required rate was contincuously creeping up. They played out all the bowlers who bowled well on the day - Afridi, Ajmal, and Aamer - all of them bowled well but due to Elliott and Vettori's sensible batting, these guys weren't swelling with pride when it came to bagging wickets.
I haven't yet mentioned how astutely NZ took the Batting Powerplay when the required run rate was 7.37 with 8 overs still to go, or how Elliott made the most of a life given by Younis Khan who dropped a sitter, or how the Pakistani bowlers' incurable oversteppings gave not only free-hits-as-freebies but also added to their frustration.
All in all, it was a great game and well played, NZ!
You did it for the Indian cricket fan, what his own team couldn't do this time - thanks very much for that!!
Here's wishing you the very best for the finals but whatever happens hereafter - win or lose, you've become THE team that I liked the most in this tournament - just because of your performance tonight!
