India’s first game at the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup unfortunately ended in a no-result, moist divine intervention denying play and a ‘warm-up’ for the Indians. Pakistan, on the other hand, managed to get some match-practice against the Scots, and with two points in their kitty, were well on their way to the Super 8s.

I would think that the situation set up a perfect battle between the two Asian rivals, until I remembered - since when did India and Pakistan need mere stats to fire them up?

Certainly, as far as passion, popularity and viewership is concerned, few matches surpass India playing Pakistan, especially on a neutral venue. The simple reason is because both teams are surprisingly unpredictable, but get fired up before the crucial encounter, as the turf is translated to a battlefield. Like every other spectator out there, I postponed cancelled a few appointments so that I can watch the match from ball numero uno.

And I wasn’t disappointed. Not one bit.

There’s this little cricketing voice at the back of my mind that’s been screaming of late, in agony I may add. Surely, it’s a bowler’s voice, as bowlers are absolutely massacred by the format, the conditions and the restrictions. The free-hit, for instance, is a nice method to ensure the bowler doesn’t overstep, but please name one quickie who hasn’t gone the extra yard to get that extra bit of pace? It’s bad enough that he gets penalized by having to re-bowl that delivery, but the free-hit is absolutely ridiculous in a game-format meant to suit the batsmen, and only the batsmen.

And after the Sri Lanka encounter, I was hoping that India would play eleven batsmen in the side. Until - God have mercy on him - the curator churned out a nice track that coupled with the rain and got a bit slippery. The pacers were interested early on, and for the first time ever in Twenty20 cricket, have I seen a good contest between bat and ball. Obviously, Shoaib Malik saw the juice in the wicket, and put India in to bat. As the two openers clad in blue walked onto the turf, the excitement reached the brim.

Match on.

All eyes were on Virender Sehwag, who didn’t last long. Asif is more than capable opening the attack, and the Indians would’ve known this. The wiser option would have meant that Gambhir and Sehwag see him off, but instead they picked the foolish one - to play him out of the attack. In doing so, they succumbed to what in all probability is the spell of the tournament so far, as Asif picked up a wicket off every over he bowled. After 4 demoloishing Asif overs, India were, to say the least, struggling.

And then, the Utthappa factor. Perhaps Pakistan missed the match at the Oval - they would’ve realized the value of his wicket, and more importantly, his batting style. Utthappa is the kind of batsman who gives a damn about the bowling action, the slipper pitch, the ball skidding off the surface, and other ‘unimportant’ factors. He looks to play every delivery on merit although he sprinkles a pinch of pre-meditated shots among them - creative ones that work and absurd ones that don’t. By the time he left the scene, India had set up some sort of recovery but were still subdued in their attack.

It didn’t help that Sohail Tanvir was getting something off the track. Here’s a left-arm seamer who bowls off the wrong foot. A very awkward action that left many a blue-shirt baffled. The Tanvir surprise worked, but can it sustain and survive? Only time will tell.

A last-minute slog by Dhoni - triggered by two consecutive sixers that Irfan Pathan smashed over long-on before losing his wicket - ensured that India reach a total of respectability. 141 was far from sufficient, but on that pitch with the variety in their bowling attack, India had a chance if the balls landed in the right areas, and if the fielders held their chances.

They didn’t disappoint.

Pakistan lost wickets at regular intervals and never got going. Yuvraj Singh usually monitors the point-region like a hawk on it’s prey, and the prey in question today materialized in Kamran Akmal, being run out after Younis Khan went into a yes-no mode. Irfan Pathan - coming back into this match - bowled the over of the tournament - a wicket maiden, and with the experienced Younis Khan having been dismissed, Pakistan were under extreme pressure. Bhajji and Dhoni’s field kept the Pakistanis quiet and allowed Pakistan to settle in. Shahid Afridi had walked in, and his intro video said it all. “Hi, I’m Shahid Afridi, right hand batsman. Favourite shot - anywhere for six”.

The guy lacks technique, temperament and everything else. But he is honest. He is skillful. And he sure as hell is powerful.

Not that either of those virtuous qualities proved useful today. He was snapped up early, and India made the mistake of mistaking his fall for the coup de grace. Instead, Misbah-ul-Haq - out of nowhere - played some brilliant shots to bring Pakistan within a sniff of victory. The guy went over mid-wicket, straight down the ground, behind square on both sides of the wicket and found many gaps, but - would you believe it - failed to score a single off the last two deliveries? Instead, India had tied the match, and it all boiled down to a bowl-out - a term I was unaware of until today, and I had to wikipedia it to hide the ignorance.

Sehwag, Utthappa and Harbhajan Singh did the trick in the bowl-out, as Pakistan totally missed the target. Indians went berserk on the field, as Pakistan went back shoulders dropped, cursing the horrible radar on their team today. It was a pleasurable moment for every Indian, even as Aaj-Tak over-dramatized it a few channels away.

Credit for making the win today, but Dhoni and company would know that Pakistan are far from the challenge that awaits them in the Super 8s. Besides, they nearly lost it towards the end and, considering they’re relatively inexperienced, would do well to hold their nerve in crunch games. After all, Twenty20 is about energy and enthusiasm and they need to be physically strong, putting a 100% from the first ball to the last.

And Sehwag needs to find the middle of the bat before a billion people shove the aforementioned woodwork up his Delhi rear.