Pak media lauds India !

"Bharat has played well and deserved the world cup victory. Congratulations to Bharati cricketers and fans of cricket the world over. Millions of Pakistanis watched world class cricket and rooted for their favorite team which were playing in India. Everyone enjoyed world-class cricket not the IPL circus which had over-shadowed the real game. We saw good cricket in India this time around." says Pak media.

" The mature and mellow Afridi led the team with flair, imagination, honesty, integrity and most importantly, personal example. Afridi all of his opponents with his attacking leg-spin, raking up the fantastic score of 21 wickets in the cup which averaged 12.85. His economy rate of 3.62–a miracle of sorts and certainly way above the average in the tournament. Boom Booms speedster Umar Gul also did well, with 14 wickets and an economy rate of 4.49. Pakistan gave many lives to Tendulkar.

"…the difference between the two teams was the runs they scored in the first 15 overs, when the ball was new. Pakistan’s top three played useful cameos too, but none of them exploded in the manner that Virender Sehwag had. Sehwag’s 25-ball 38 allowed India to rack up 99 in the first 15 overs, compared to Pakistan’s 70. The difference of 29 was exactly the margin by which Pakistan lost the match, which means in the remaining 35 overs, the two teams scored exactly the same number of runs. Of course, the approaches of the two teams at the start were obviously different since Pakistan knew the target in front of them, but Pakistan struggled as much as India did in the middle overs. What made their case worse was the fact that they got no reciprocal help from the Indian fielders, or from the dew which was expected to set in later in the evening. " S Rajesh. CricInfo ESPN

The air was pregnant with anticipation as Misbah ul Haq hit the fifth ball of the last over from Zaheer Khan. Time came to a stand-still as the crowd looked on towards Virat Kohli who duly completed the catch. THu ended Pakistan’s dream of reaching the final. Bharat had won the semi-final, beating the Pakistanis by 29 runs. The two teams shook hands – the crowd was euphoric, the team in Blue looked a little more than elated–the ‘Boom Boom’s Green Squad’ bore a dejected but very proud air about them–they were down but not out, and it wa a respectable game that they had played.

Afridi failed to win the World Cup dream but Pakistan managed to win the hearts of all cricket lovers all over the world. Pakistan’s best hour in cricket is ahead of them" says Pak media.