by Veena Gabriel
The ICC World Twenty20 new Champions, Pakistan, may be on the other side of fence when it comes to team India but interestingly they have one Indian cricketer to whom they should be under obligation, India’s very own Gautam Gambhir.
No, he was not playing for Pakistan but it seems that he met Shahid Afridi during the second week of the competition. Staying in the same hotel they were bound to meet some time or the other. Going back in 2006-07 series, there was no love lost between the two. In fact things came to such a past that Gambhir was reprimanded by the Match Referee when Afridi complained against him.
That was past so when they met in 2009 ,Afridi recalled one and only one thing about Gambhir, the best player who had faced faced Ajantha Mendis, the mystery Sri Lankan Spinner who has the capability to demolish the opposition with his handiwork. He asked specific questions regarding the technique with which Mendis sent down each of his balls.
Afridi knew he had to face Mendis in the final and he wanted each and every bit of information which could help him to face Mendis. The large hearted Gambhir was more than ready to oblige and gave the magic tip “that it was important to pick Mendis from his fingers because it is from there that he does all the variations”.
Unfortunately Afridi played against Sri Lanka on the 12th of June and was out for a duck while facing Murali Muralitharan. But in the finals it was different story all together, Ajantha did not take any wicket and Shahid did not hit any boundary but the mystery was solved. Now even Pakistan could face Mendis without quacking in the shoes and with confidence.
Sri Lankan Captain Kumar Sangakkara is a broken man today. At least two teams are no longer afraid of his star performer. He is blaming the reason that since Pakistan has played against Ajantha so they are able to demystify the mystery of Mendis.
What he does not know is that one Indian namely Gautam Gambhir has also played an important role in the whole de-mystification process.
What is more important is - will Team Pakistan acknowledge Gambhir’s help? Doubtful ,isn’t it?
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