By Fakir Hassen, IANS
Durban : Blazing batting by Yuvraj Singh and a capacity crowd cheering lustily buoyed India to oust world champions Australia in the semi final of the inaugural ICC Twenty20 World Championship here to head for an India-Pakistan final.
In one of the most thrilling games of the series, a capacity crowd of more than 20,000, majority of them Indian, saw some nail biting moments in the last three overs of the game as Australia, still within reach of a win, finally crumbled under pressure from India.
Harbhajan Singh, returning to bowl despite an earlier injury, played a crucial role and did an impromptu jig to the Bhangra music on the public address system as the last ball loomed, much to the delight of the crowd.
The stadium was awash with Indian flags, prompting one television commentator to say that he had never seen such a large number of Indian flags at one game, even in India. Another commentator said that one could probably become a millionaire selling Indian flags.
Flags of Australia were few and far between, mainly with a bunch of green-haired fans in England jerseys, while there were scores of locals wearing South African jerseys waving Indian flags, even though India had ousted the hosts last Thursday.
Home to the largest Indian community outside of India, Durban saw its residents flooding out to support India, with Australian captain Adam Gilchrist conceding that “it feels like I’m in the middle of India”.
Later Gilchrist, commenting on their forthcoming tour of India, said: “It feels like the tour had already started,” to a resounding cheer from the crowd.
Joining the locals were hundreds of fans from India who had made the pilgrimage to Durban, where the Indian side was based for the duration of the series. Dhols and banners were the order of the order, ranging from pictures of Kangaroos heading home to bold declarations of “Yuvraj Once More – 666666″, reflecting on his record of six sixes in one over against England last Wednesday.
Yuvraj did hit several sixes to boost India, achieving 70 off 30 balls, and the standing ovation that he got as he left the field was echoed when he was named Man of the Match.
Commenting on meeting arch-rivals Pakistan in the final at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Monday, Singh said:” It’s like a dream come true.”
In all the games so far, Indian and Pakistani fans have shown a great spirit of camaraderie, with one pair in Saturdays’ game even having sewn flags of the two countries together and marching with it across one area of the field continually.
That spirit of brotherhood is likely to change on Monday, however, as the sub continental final takes on new meaning for them.