Indo-Pak final

Ok cool, so we have a final clash between India and Pakistan in the ICC World T20. Fans through out the subcontinent are going to be up and supporting their teams - India or Pakistan depending on where they are from.

Both these teams meeting in the final brings together many aspects of this great leveler game. Think about it, both these teams had been pushed out the ODI world cup earlier this year by minnows and here they are, a few months later, fighting it out for the next major tournament in Cricket. Both these teams have reached the final by defeating some big names and deserve to be out there tonight.

But the similarities don't stop there. Here's a look at all similarities between these teams:

• Both teams were pushed out of the ODI WC.
• Both lost their coaches since th WC, Pakistan losing Bob Woolmer to death and India losing Greg Chapel to resignation.
• Both have had captaincy changes - Shoaib Malik for Pak and MS Dhoni for India.
• Both captains could not have been imagined a few months back - neither Shoaib Malik nor MS Dhoni were in the reckoning, but were pushed because of Younis Khan declining captaincy and Dravid declining to play in T20 WC.
• Both teams have had scandals and issues back home. Pakistant has had issues with Inzamam stepping aside, Younis Khan declining captaincy, Shoaib Akthar running into all sorts of problems. India has had Dravid recently resign, BCCI has been challenged by ICL and India has not able to find a coach for its cricket team.
• Both teams had their key players missing since their ODI WC team - Pak has lost Inzamam, Mohd Yousuf and Shoaib (though official Shoias was not a part of their WC team, I'll include him) and India had their big three (Sachin, Sourav and Dravid) and Zaheer Khan resting for this tournament.

The two teams are equally stacked up against each other and I really hope it goes to the wire. I am naturally going to be supporting India, but for me, a washout leading to splitting the honors seems to be the best result.

ps: I watched the match against Australia with three Sardarjis - Amanjeet, Amarjeet and Harmanjeet. It was so much fun to watch it with them, specially when two Punjabis were firing on the field - Yuvi and Bhajji. Bhajji even did a short Bhangra which we all replicated in our TV room. It was real fun, believe me.