Picture Perfect

When this reporter asked him, he sought to laugh it off. ‘‘Match de diya aur kya dena tha. I didn’t give them anything in particular’’, he said.

But it left the Indians happy, the goodwill acting as icing on a cake they worked hard to perfect. And, match won, they set about celebrating.

Immediately after Yousuf Youhana mistimed a pull to seal India’s victory, the whole team ran into the dressing room and got their cameras out. The seniormost, Sachin Tendulkar, and the juniormost, Irfan Pathan, started jiving to Nikamma kiya is dil ne from Tusshar and Esha Deol’s Kya Dil Ne Kahaa.

Regular captain Saurav Ganguly was also there, dressed in casual attire and waiting to catch a Lahore flight enroute to India. He appeared satisfied at what his boys had done but was reluctant to take part in the post-match ceremonies. ‘‘No I won’t, I am not dressed in whites like you guys’’, he said before they almost dragged him out. ‘‘Why me, I haven’t even played the match.’’

But the man — or boy — most in public demand was Pathan, and not just among journalists. A group of seven schoolchildren called him down from the dressing room: they wanted a picture with Irfan and his autograph.

Photo clicked, they then armtwisted him to take back seven autograph books for the team to sign. One young girl very sweetly told Irfan, ‘‘Please do it for me, I won’t be able to see you tomorrow, I have to go to school.’’ Blissfully unaware, of course, that tomorrow there would be no cricket nor Indians in Multan.

They weren’t the only children to benefit from the Indians’ good mood. The team paid a visit to an SOS orphanage an hour’s drive away, where they were treated to a cultural show and had friendship bands tied on their wrists.

It was then payback time as Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Sachin and VVS Laxman played cricket with them for half an hour.

Back at the hotel, it was time to pack up for some, while for some others it was time to see TV and watch movies. Balaji had heard of the DVD shops and went looking for Tamil films but even the huge collection here failed to satisfy him and he returned with four English CDs.

Finally, before they left for Lahore, this team had its cake and ate it too. Literally, as the hotel staff had prepared a cake — that Dravid cut — with ‘‘Bravo the winning team’’ written on it.

And then it was off to Lahore, from where two members will fly back to India. Ganguly for health reasons and Anil Kumble because his wife Chetana is expecting (he’ll return for the Test).

But one man, reputed to have a computer-like brain, was seeing beyond the goodwill to Gaddafi, Lahore. While his teammates were in the dressing room, Sachin Tendulkar had moved down to the field. He’d heard Umar Gul could be playing the next Test, he’d seen him having a go in the nets, and knew what was to be done. He called a member of the Indian support staff and asked him to videotape Gul’s bowling.

Maybe that explains this winning habit.