Doom for India, dhoom for Pakistan

Bobbilli Vijay Kumar / TNN / Sep 21, 2004, 18:07 IST

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BIRMINGHAM: A funereal calm descended over the Edgbaston stands as India crashed out of the Champions Trophy late on Sunday evening.

<div class="section0"><div class="Normal">BIRMINGHAM: A funereal calm descended over the Edgbaston stands as India crashed out of the Champions Trophy late on Sunday evening. All their supporters, who came from far and near, riding on high hopes and great expectations, poured out of the ground within seconds and vanished into the encircling darkness. The Men in Blue spent one long hour in the dressing room, absorbing the shock and coming to terms with the agonisingly cruel defeat. As they made their way out, there was nobody to greet them or wave them away; there was nobody waiting for autographs or photographs. It was probably one of their loneliest and longest drives back to the hotel. "The boys are really shattered," team manager Gautam Das Gupta told the Times of India on Monday morning. "We will be going home a disappointed lot. Lot of work remains to be done," he said. The team was scheduled to leave for London later in the evening and catch a flight back to India, and then the connecting flights home, on Wednesday morning. The morning after hit the players even harder: they understand that there won''t be any fans in Mumbai, Delhi or Chennai, waiting with garlands and dholaks. It was supposed to unfold into a golden season; it is fizzling out into a disaster. Four tournaments and four defeats. Life couldn''t be worse. "Irfan is obviously very disappointed," said Das Gupta. The fiery swing bowler had traversed the little journey from the top of the world to the pits of despair in one bloody over: Shahid Afridi smashed him for two massive sixes and a boundary later to destroy his great initial spell. Irfan could only watch in dismay, hands akimbo, as the ball sailed over his head, high into the black evening before landing in the stands. Cricket is not gloriously uncertain anymore; it''s just a brutal game of One-day cricket. Players die a million times on the field, especially in tight finishes in the big games. "We just spent the evening at the hotel. It was all very quiet and painful," added Das Gupta. Even he couldn''t hide the twinge in his heart. The Pakistan camp, on the other hand, was flying. Hundreds of Men in Green, with the crescent and star proudly fluttering overhead, waited to catch a glimpse of their valiant heroes. "It was a grand victory," said Pakistan''s manager Haroon Rashid. "The credit must go to the entire team. Everyone helped each other and that''s what took us to victory," he explained. "The turning point, of course, was the partnership between Inzamam and Yousuf. But the sixes that Afridi hit in Irfan''s over was equally critical." Rashid denied that it was a huge gamble to hold Afridi back till so late. "We all know what he''s capable of. He enjoys his game and always plays like that. Maybe, we needed something like that at that stage," he said. "It wasn''t a bad shot really," he said about Afridi''s skier at that point. "He didn''t connect properly. It would have been another six otherwise," he added, with a laugh. The manager disclosed that they too had a quiet evening at the hotel. "A few friends came over and we spent the time together. We were all thrilled and simply enjoyed each other''s company. "We will celebrate in a big way only after winning the tournament," he said. "This was a very important match, and critical victory. But we are going to wait a little more time before partying hard," he added.</div> </div>

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