The Surfer

Just like he has done in dressing-rooms across venues in both India and Sri Lanka, Currie spent a major part of Monday putting up six large-size postcards, depicting the major sights of New Zealand on one of the walls. In addition to one with kids playing beach cricket, the postcards mainly carry some of the more famous and scenic sights from back home

Pulling his team into a huddle, Afridi culminated practice on Monday with a word of advice to each of his players. It wasn’t the advice that was important, but the very nature of the huddle itself. Unlike the shoulder-link-shoulder huddle, this one was a disjointed version — with Afridi at the centre of the circle, and everyone’s undivided attention. Just as his ego demands. The batting may fail and the bowling may not click, but Afridi has forever replaced his flawed allrounder’s tag with the label of a flawless, inspirational leader.

“There wasn’t much going his way around that time. He could have just packed his bags after the game and headed off. But Yuvraj took the initiative and spoke to the boys. When things are not going your way it is very difficult to think beyond one’s personal form. In such a scenario it was very heartening to see that Yuvraj had the maturity to think about the team. He didn’t make a big hundred in Ranji Trophy this season but he was patient and determined when he was batting and that was a big change. I guess he has been speaking to the right people,” Bhupinder said.

Today, the ability to shrug shoulders and move on — and the opportunity cost to not doing so — is greater than at any time earlier. May this essential equanimity (easy to miss while watching over-the-top news television shows) come through this Wednesday night. Admittedly it would be nice if it were preceded by an Indian victory.

Hopefully, the atmosphere inside the stadium will be intense without a nasty edge. The better team will win, and the other should be left to reflect on a campaign that’s been far from a failure. Let’s not get caught in the usual pathetic spiral of accusing players of fixing and stoning their houses.

Relations between the neighbours remain at an all-time low, which is saying something considering that in the best part of 64 years they have never tilted towards the high scale. Between 1961 and 1978 they did not meet on the cricket field at all. Now, the political frisson and the proximity of Chandigarh to the Pakistan border, 150 miles away, has provoked rampant speculation about an influx of away fans, all desperately seeking last-minute visas and determined to reach Mohali at all costs.

This winter was always going to be heavy enough on players with an Ashes series and a long World Cup, but money was put before the best interests of our team. If we had to play nine one-day matches in Australia we should have sent our A-team lads. Our major Ashes players should have gone home to rest and freshen up.

The selectors need to start planning for the next World Cup in Australia in four years’ time. They need to think of the conditions and the type of cricketer needed to do well out there and the age of the players when that tournament starts … identify some youngsters. Give them experience, time to play and make mistakes and learn from those errors so that by the next World Cup they are battle-hardened.

Aggression is important as long as it's controlled. New Zealand's players earn some slack on the incident as emotions were clearly running high. After all, written off and suddenly, having squeezed the South African lemon hard and long enough, they could see the pips starting to fly out. But it was ugly. Pointing out to du Plessis that he'd effectively tossed away the game is fine, but Kyle Mills, who was not even in the XI, had no place getting involved when the verbal sparks were flying. Hefty fines were handed out to Mills, Vettori and du Plessis, and justified, too.

It was a great move to get in the South African faces because they don't like it. They are big on being the aggressors. They pride themselves on stamping their authority on games. The Black Caps made sure the shoe was on the other foot and since Faf du Plessis made prematch comments about not being afraid of the Black Caps, I'm sure they were reminding him of that at a crucial part of the game when he ran out AB de Villiers.

Judging by the manner of their victory against Australia, India have to be the favourites now, followed by Sri Lanka. The semi-final against Pakistan in Mohali, up near the border between the two countries, is going to be an incredible occasion, worthy of being the final … The most intriguing aspect is going to be seeing whether the Indian batsmen can stand up to the enormous mental strain the circumstances of the match will put them under…

Most of the Pakistani batsmen would struggle to get a place in that Indian top seven. That does not mean you can count them out … Unlike the Australians and English, they are going to be used to batting in these conditions against the Indian style of bowling. Mahendra Singh Dhoni may not be able to get away quite so easily with using all those part time spinners to fill in the overs.

We were invited to the homes of such celebrities as Pakistan’s top TV anchor Anwar Maqsood, Punjab chief justice Shaukat Ghoraya and singer Noor Jehan. When we asked about Mehdi Hasan, the legendary ghazal singer, a concert for the Indian team was promptly organised at the palatial home of Mehmood Ali, described as the Dilip Kumar of Pakistan.

Mehdi Hasan was thrilled to learn how much the Indian visitors knew of Ahmed Faraz, Mir Taki Mir and Mirza Ghalib and played all our requests. If ever there was cultural diplomacy between recently warring nations, it was here.

For somebody like me who’s grown up watching Australia as such a dominant force in world cricket, it took a while to come to terms with the fact that this was not the same Australia. For until now, in every world tournament, Australia would be my firm favourites, even when going through a slump, because I thought they had mastered most aspects of the game. But the kind of ability with which they wanted to replace certain players who have retired hasn’t quite come in. That is why I thought this Australian team was going to be a very weak defender of their title, and it turned out just like that.