Guardian
the sportblog.com
Homeless and hounded but defiant to the glorious end
"Whatever the effect of Pakistan's triumph in the final of World Twenty20, it was certainly one in the eye for the Islamist militants. It is one thing to attack the Sri Lankan team's coach in the middle of Lahore and force international cricket to flee from Pakistan, it is quite another to quench the indomitable spirit of Pakistani cricket.
Putting national sentiments aside, Pakistan's victory in World Twenty20 was the most joyous outcome imaginable in a tournament replete with happy, vibrant, adventurous cricket, a statement that the sport is so imprinted upon Pakistan's national consciousness that even the awful prospect of a nomadic existence for several years to come, playing Twenty20 in temporary homes around the world, will not break them.
Billy Smart's Circus has nothing on the unpredictable thrills available at the circus headed by Younus Khan, who has laughed at adversity so defiantly through the last fortnight that it would have been no surprise to see him accepting the trophy in a pair of Krusty The Clown slippers."
Cricinfo.com
A time to laugh, a time to heal
Pakistan's win has brought respite from death and bombs and given a nation the gift of celebration
Osman Samiuddin
"Sea View was bouncing last night. Karachi's beach is never lost for humanity but last night it was particularly overrun. Mostly they were young men, from all over the city, dancing with the great abandon of those who cannot but do not care anyway. At regular distances, cars would have to stop, allow the men to dance all around, occupants being invited to dance, or drive on through under a flag. Mostly it was a Pakistan flag, but those of political parties were not absent. Those who didn't dance on the streets did so from the windows of their cars, bopping to horns and stereos. Save for rallies welcoming back exiled leaders I have never seen such scenes in Karachi.
TV channels elatedly confirmed that such scenes were not confined to Pakistan's most urban city. Lahore anyway needs no excuse to party, but even the capital, once described as a "fig of bureaucratic imagination," loosened its tie and let out its paunch. Obligatory scenes from refugee camps housing the displaced from the battle in Swat followed and why not? These are people who have lost everything but their lives and nobody will begrudge them a little cheer.
Rarely has cricket's place in this country's conscience been as entrenched as it has been over the past two years. Rarely has it so contributed to the mood of the hour. Since the Oval Test, in drawing rooms, on streets, at parks, at dinners, parties, mosques, markets, hotels, tea shops, courtrooms, police stations, cricket has lurked, waiting for politics to get over. Few things in this country are as talked about as politics but cricket has been a competitive second. Dope tests, intrigues, the death of a coach, rotten performances, more rotten administration, the Lahore terrorist attacks; people outside Pakistan worried that the Lahore attacks were the death of cricket but really, cricket has never more been life and life has never more been cricket, just that with all the beauty came the ugliness, unpredictability and despair ................................................
It has been said that few sporting victories anywhere around the world have been as significant as this. Perhaps it is true, but the real truth of that will emerge over time. Pakistan's win will do little in literal terms for the war on terror; if we're lucky the spirits will be emboldened further. Countries are still unlikely to visit Pakistan for international cricket because that is not really part of this.
But the win and the run have brought, for however long, respite from war, death, bombs and load-shedding (power cuts). People have laughed and smiled since Pakistan's run began, with that outstanding Afridi catch and Umar Gul spell. Last night they laughed and smiled and danced and jigged and blew their horns and waved their flags and ate their mithai (sweets) and set off their firecrackers more than they have for a long time. That is as powerful a gift as can be given to any nation. "
