Letters to the editor

After the dud World Cup in West Indies, the game deserved such a close final between the two fierce competitors.

The selectors deserve a pat on their backs for giving youth a preference, as no one in their wildest dreams could have imagined India would give such a fine performance without Dravid, Sachin, Ganguly or Zaheer. Special credit should go to Dhoni for being the Captain Cool that he was throughout the tournament.

He made up for his lack of experience with his grit and his confidence in youngsters. He proved he is leader material.

What was termed a dream final rightly went down to the wire and the team which held on to their nerves won whereas Pakistan in spite of putting up a good show throughout the tournament, having defeated the Lankans, Aussies and the Kiwis buckled under pressure. What is an India-Pakistan match without pressure?

The worst thing about their defeat, which should be taken sportingly by their crazy fans, was the apology by their skipper Malik to the entire Muslim community. It was ridiculous on his part to drag religion into the game of cricket. He should be fined for this irresponsible act and be made an example for others to ensure that the sports world is not divided on the lines of religion.

8212; Ariz K. Bokdawalla Ahmedabad

Stalwarts8217; favour

The Indian cricket team winning the inaugural T20 world cup in South Africa was dream stuff. Not just the win in the final against Pakistan, our wins against South Africa and Australia in the semis have been special too. Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly8217;s absence gave our young boys a chance to prove their mettle, and it was a wise decision by the stalwarts to stay back, as they would have been misfits in this format.

8212; S.N. KabraMumbai

Billion heartbeats

The highly charged last two overs of Pakistan batting in the World Cup Twenty-Twenty final on September 24 must have been watched by about a billion people in the Indian subcontinent. Their heart-beats must have risen as fast as the sixers were hit and the last two wickets stumbled. The rate of total heart beats must have risen to more than 100 billion per minute. No coincidence that the prize money was 2 million.

8212;Sameer Kumar Mumbai

Wobbly BJP Apropos of your leader, Revival politics the country8217;s main Opposition in Parliament gives the impression of being in a state of utter confusion. Some of its leading lights do not allow you to feel they belong to a party 8216;with a difference8217; and known for discipline. Does the BJP need enemies from outside when it has such loud mouths talking out of turn on leadership? Take Yashwant Sinha. He holds forth, in a TV interview, on how the party8217;s current leader in Parliament is not automatically to be its prime-ministerial candidate deploys strained logic to defend himself. Then there is Murli Manohar Joshi who, despite his disappointing past as BJP president, conveys the message that while he may not become PM, he will not allow L.K. Advani to become the PM.

The bane of Indian politics is its large number of geriatrics who do not know when to call it quits. One thought, Atalji would prove the exception, given his state of health and wobbly gait. One is indeed disappointed. In this scenario can the young in country8217;s mainstream parties aspire for leadership positions?

8212; Prasad Malladi Basivireddypeta