India win Twenty20 title

India has lifted the World Twenty20 Cricket title after a nail-biting 5 run victory over Pakistan. All in all, it was a wonderful advertisement for this new animal -- most skeptics viewed this as a temporary candy-fill preferring to dismiss it as a whole.

The game was played in excellent spirit with both teams giving it their all. The quality was high with fielding, batting and bowling evident how these 2 teams reached the final. Pakistan were certainly worthy runnerups.

India just seemed destined to do it especially after no-one gave them a chance and with a young side, clearly had a lot to prove. They made everyone take notice of them after losing to New Zealand when every game was do-or-die; first with Yuvraj's 6 sixes against England; against hosts South Africa - not just beating them but knocking them completely out of the competition when they were in a comfortable position to finish top of the table; then knocking out fancied Australia in the semis; and finally arch-rivals Pakistan.

It is indeed remarkable for a side that has a new captain and a relatively new team, to fire in its capacity and on such a stage: the ICC T20 World Cup. What stood out was a team effort in all matches headed by a composed captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Maturity was also evident. Against South Africa, before even the game began, the experts said that India would be blasted off the pitch by SA's quick men. They even prepared a green pacy wicket for their bowlers. And with Yuvraj Singh injured, SA had begun the match ahead of India. Such notions were apparent when India lost 3 wickets in 4 balls before debutant Rohit Sharma and skipper Dhoni propelled India to a competitive score which would be more than enough. In the end, it was South Africa who were left reeling on a green top with India's quickmen, RP Singh and co demolishing SA's top order. At the end, SA were left struggling to just aim for a smaller target which could see them at least qualify. They failed in that too.

India's achievement should serve as a reminder to the Board and its selectors: give youth a chance and it will always pay. We saw it in the last 2 weeks and were not disappointed.