‘Ranchi conquers Karachi’, screams Dhoni’s hometown daily

New Delhi, Sep 25 (IANS) Headline writers across the country had a field day following India’s five-run win over Pakistan in the final of the Twenty20 World Championships in Johannesburg.

The Ranchi edition of Hindi daily Hindustan Tuesday morning perhaps best summed up the mood with this banner headline – ‘Ranchi ne kiya Karachi fatah’ (Ranchi conquers Karachi).


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The other Hindi newspaper from Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s hometown, Prabhat Khabar, was not too far behind: ‘Ho gayee anhonee, chhaa gaya Dhoni’ (Impossible has happened, Dhoni has prevailed).

Hindi headlines were perhaps the more creative – ‘Jeeti jang, duniya dang’ (Won the battle, surprised the world) wrote Patna’s Aaj, and ‘Diwali se pehle mani desh mein diwali’ (Diwali celebrated in the country ahead of Diwali) screamed Raipur’s Jansatta.

Rajasthan, not exactly a cricketing state, was hardly less creative – ‘Pahli bees maarkhan team hamari’ (Ours is the best Twenty20 team) was the tongue firmly in cheek headline in Jaipur’s Daily News, and Rajasthan Patrika came up with a more sedate but powerful “Pak ke halak se kheench lee jeet’ (Snatched victory from Pakistan’s mouth).

The cacophony in the national capital was led by the English daily Hindustan Times, which carried full-page photographs of the celebrating Indian players on the first two pages, with the heading ‘Top of the World’. Their sister publication HT Next appeared with a more sedate ‘Incredible India’ lead headline.

Chandigarh-based The Tribune was perhaps the most low key of the Tuesday morning papers with Dhoni’s celebrating photo headlined ‘Yes, but just’, while the Delhi edition of The Hindu’s front page banner read a sedate ‘India wins World Twenty20 thriller’.

Cricket-mad Mumbai’s leading English daily The Times of India went to town with ‘We are the world’ and ‘Pakistunned’. Not to be left behind in the cricket frenzy enveloping the country, its sister publication Economic Times came up with a front-page banner ‘Superpower: India 2020’.

As expected, television channels went ballistic with their coverage late into Monday night. Almost every TV new channel had its in-studio experts eulogising the team and its members, showering praise on Dhoni’s inspiring leadership and the cool head on his much photographed shoulders.

‘Young blood in a billion hearts’ was how the Indian Express summed up the mood in the country, which celebrates a major cricket triumph after more than two decades, following the 1983 World Cup and the 1995 World Championships.

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