Vande Mataram

Last Friday, when most of Dubai was gearing up for another weekend, cries of ‘Vande Mataram’ and ‘Jai Hind’ were heard coming from a forlorn corner of the city, more accurately, from ‘InSportz’ in the Al Quoz industrial area. One would have been forgiven for thinking that the Indian Independence Day had come a bit early to this part of the world. The real reason was that India had just beaten Pakistan at indoor Cricket, not just in one match but in two consecutively and the Indian players and spectators were enjoying a round of jingoistic celebrations.
Indoor Cricket in very popular in Dubai and I have been playing regularly for over a year now. Most of the players are from the sub-continent but there are also a few teams representing the ‘white’ Cricketing countries. Indoor Cricket is fast paced and very exciting and takes only an hour per game, so it is a huge pull for people of the sub-continent, who are otherwise Cricket starved.
Man to man, Pakistan had a better team but the Indians played better as a unit. The pairs played well together and each bowler did his job, not trying to play beyond his capacity. India played percentage Cricket and won.