Wouldn’t the Pakistanis have just loved to watch our news channels last weekend? After more than six months of berating them, scolding them and accusing them of war on the Indian state in extreme instances, TV news celebrated Pakistan’s victories at the Twenty20 World Cup with such joyful expression, you’d think India had been the winner. No wonder we saw the Pakistanis were dancing in wide-eyed astonishment!

Even before Shahid Afridi held aloft his arms at the end of the final against Sri Lanka, the news channels were extolling his virtues, showering him with unstinted praise and generally behaving as if he was Yuvraj Singh. And once the victory was won, they all rushed off to party across the border, joining Pakistani news channels coverage of roadside revelry from Lahore to Karachi. Such a song and dance! Some were resourceful enough to catch Pakistani cricketers like Shoaib Akhtar, Rameez Raja and Javed Miandad for congratulatory bites while the likes of Kapil Dev looked dazed with admiration — that or he’d been in the studio for too long. Yes, it was quite a party on Sunday night — everything was forgiven and forgotten in India-Pakistan bhai-bhai — as the Indian media rejoiced at our neighbour’s good fortune. All but Doordarshan, which conducted a studio discussion on Pakistan’s triumph with such seriousness, you’d suppose the firecrackers that lit up our screens were bombs blasting. C’mon DD, take a chill pill.

From the point of view of spectator sport, the final began with a bang and ended with a bang but in between you could safely eat your dinner without swallowing anything the wrong way. Twenty20 and IPL have had the rare distinction of doing what no other sport can or has — install the female fan before the TV set for three hours. We’d guess that was because it was short (and therefore sweet) with tall scores and lusty hitting which made it seem like so much fun.

... contd.