World T20 2009 Glory Rewind - Pleasure in Guilty

(Written by: Ahmad Hussain)

Rewind 2009 T20 Final:

Light Shutdown, Adrenaline & Guilt. Stick with these 3 words for next few minutes while I present case of Guilty Pleasure ft. 2009 World T20

Road to Final:

It’s been whole month since we are at our grand-mom (late) place, it’s been highs & lows. Let’s delve into lows for a bit and the bottom line to them would be Electricity Shutdown in Scorching Heat of June, transformer replacements & then eventual breakdown of that transformer too in local grid station. Highs, or should I put only Cricket; be it cricket tournament between us cousins: with me & my twin teaming up for Sheru Express, in our Wayrrha or be it Umar Gul Astonishing 5-9 vs. New Zealand. Cricket Jorray Pakistan

The Pinnacle Day:

Now it’s 21st June, another Asian Opponent was on horizon like it was back in different continent 2 years before-India. There’s genuine cast of spell by Muralitharan from Cricket Analysts down to common fans in village. Ajantha Mendis launching pad had terrorized Australia New Zealand in Road to Final. While Sangakarra is scoring runs for fun & there’s Bloody good Dilshan, who was menace and proper. So the buzz line was they can defend even 120. And then there’s lifelong anxiety with Pakistani batting lineup. So, buildup had nervousness, PTSD & fear I would say. 99% Chance :1% Hope as they say. And due to adrenaline I didn’t slept properly last night & then whole daytime before final started there’s Shutdown.

Match Time Moments:

Ok then, as had been the norm for past matches when there is no electricity or even backups are consumed, then sole way out was tuning onto FM101,107 ,there’s Chishti Mujahid, there’s Qamar ud Din, there’s Tariq Saeed, there’s Sikandar Bakht. Eh, Not a bad lineup!!

Young Rookie from Karachi Dolphins, Shahzeb has shown the “Dil-scoop” way out of the ground & there’s unreal joy in our zone of youngsters tuning into radio where in other section of lawn, elders of our family passing on the pearls of wisdom that “Is Score tak Rokna Hoga”, “Sangakkara Ehem player ha”. The madness continues with Razzaq blinding spell & then there’s turn of tides. Who else, But Bloody Good Sangakkara who steers his team to 137 and when I watch back recording, Ian Chappell commented right there that. “That’s pretty good score to defend”

Break:

But there’s no break because no electricity. Hope glimmers as news spread across village that backup transformer in hub of village has been arranged and there is central screen too to watch out. My twin bro with my cousin ran down there. My adrenalaine now counts little to nothing as dehydration & dizziness is taking over and I have moved from Cousins Radio zone to lay my head into mother lap. Of course all are up & can listen/resonate their vibes with festivity around.

2nd Innings:

Kami Akmal & Shahzeb have made blinding start smashing all parts of the field. Just the start Pakistani team & fans dreamt off. Radio beats are going off the scale by every passing over in the match. Then both openers fall off in quick succession. And in parallel, I have fallen into deep valley of Sleep with kind of despondency around that “Sri Lanka 120 bh defend karleti ha”. No one could utter a word after those 2 wickets fell such was nervousness both in cousin zones & elder zones. It started convicting me. How could one not be up praying for Afridi or run down to village center to watch match. Cheer the team up. But yeah you run from it, dread it, destiny still arrives. And That’s from where GUILT takes over!!!

Lloyd takes over: “Oh Boom Boom, Boom Boom”. No, it’s me watching back the match.

“Afridi fittingly hits the winning runs. Shahid Afridi, Big Man, Big Game: It’s a LEG BYE who cares.” I didn’t watch those moments either.

--Fakhr e Pakistan Younis Khan with Chand Sitara flag around his shoulders is doing lap of honor while the Likes of Fawad Alam, Rao Iftikhar Anjum & other are running ahead with trophy quickly shifting in between their hands—I wasn’t part of that scenes either.

My twin bro, with whom I had celebrated almost every run & wicket till Final, would’ve come back home would’ve hugged cousins & elders, my mom. I am all unaware of that. Deep it down Ahmad, have you for real done it. Ahh I could go on & on

Morning after:

I woke up around 7:20 am local time, and there’s something heavy inside me. And I just close my eyes out. Completely unaware of the result & more so there’s sense of shame of how I slept while Big Final was ongoing. I could hardly get off my bed. And there’s no courage in me to face my cousins or twin bro, let alone ask who wins the match. Because what if something like 2007 had happened. As they say: “A guilty conscience has nowhere to hide”. I run away from my grand-mom house for a bit. No it won’t work. Ahmad you must know who has won?. Now Project IGI has started or in other relevancy, IMRAN Series of Ibn e Saffi, that I spot my cousins along with my twin bro are rewinding the match. I don’t run towards them.

I just put my ears on the walls of room they’re inside. Then the guilt takes it Pinnacle as my Cousin went onto say; "Haha Malik and Afridi hug after Malik played onto the legside for four was top notch!!". I now see their faces, there is unmatched happiness. And now they’re giving high fives to each other. And for me world stopped there. There’s guilt of missing out on the Ultimate moment as humble cricket fan; kind of sense of betrayal to cousins around for not sticking together. But there’s pleasure as our own PAKISTAN have defied logics to become World Champions & I have to now for rest of my life re-watch all the highlights of Afridi, Razaq, YK, Amir doing their thing just to hide my guilt. I can do it without shame now HAHA. Thank you PCT. Thank you all for listening to my case. PAKISTAN Zinda Baad.