Final drama

What an extraordinary match; 180 runs, 20 wickets, 60 overs. They are the bare numbers but don’t do justice to the sheer drama of today. One minute Pakistan had been routed for 109 – World Cup over. Twenty minutes of chaos later India were 9 for 6. As they say, cricket’s a funny old game.

It was an unusual day all round really. There was a sense of anticipation surrounding the Premadasa as I walked in shortly after lunch time. A number of TV crews had flown in especially for this match and the press box was the busiest of the tournament. The Pakistan supporters, who had turned out to watch the semi-final, were back in force. When India were bowling they were noticeably subdued, but certainly came alive as Anwar Ali produced his triple-wicket over. They made a heck of a noise, considering they were all concentrated in one stand, and I tried to imagine the ground full of Sri Lankans cheering on their heroes.

Many of the fans hung around to watch the trophy be presented to Sarfraz Ahmed and then to cheer the players on a mini lap of honour – a full circle would have been rather pointless as no one was in three quarters of the stadium. But, post-match presentations are a strange beast, especially at the end of a tournament or series. You have the excruciating part of the beaten side having to trudge up to accept their medals, while probably wishing they were a million miles away. Then they have to stand there as the winners grab hold of the silverware before being able to skulk off to the dressing room to lick their wounds.

Then comes the press conference and after two weeks of two or three journalists having a casual chat with the coach or captain, this one was a bit more serious. At the back there was a bank of cameras, next to them there was the guy – he’d obviously drawn the short straw – who was keeping the spot lights on by holding two bare wires into the socket. One false move and we would be plunged into darkness. And the questions were, shall we say, thorough with some being longer than the answers they received.

It’s amazing how different a player can be on and off the field; Sarfraz was balling out at his team-mates as they pulled of their minor miracle, but he does not have the greatest English so Mansoor Rana did most of the talking for Pakistan camp. However you could see the joy in Sarfraz's eyes and even though I couldn’t understand a word of what he said in Urdu, I didn’t really need to. To pull off a win like this in any match is impressive, to do it in a World Cup final is very special.