The New Wanderers erupted in joy under a sea of tri-colours while players and support staff charged onto the field after India won the cup.
JOHANNESBURG: The choc-a-bloc crowd at the New Wanderers erupted in joy under a sea of tri-colours while players and support staff charged onto the field after Mahendra Singh Dhoni did a Kapil Dev and led India to a World Cup glory, though in a different format.
Dhoni wanted to play down the hype surrounding an India-Pakistan tie but in the end, it turned out to be a humdinger, a match of fluctuating fortune and India had the fortune of the brave to end up on the right side of the edge-of-the-seat-thriller.
Misbah-ul-Haq almost single-handedly snatched the match away from India when Dhoni tossed the ball to Joginder Sharma, India's last over hero in the semifinal against Australia.
Joginder started with a wide, followed it with a dot ball before Misbah hit him for a six to up the tempo.
But Captain Cool Dhoni soon walked up to the Haryana all-rounder to calm his nerve.
Misbah went for a scoop in the next ball only to find S Sreesanth at short fine leg and it was all over for Pakistan with an apparent win slipping through the fingers.
An ecstatic Sreesanth threw the ball high up in the sky and screamed in joy while Misbah was no his knees, rooted to the crease as his heroics could not see his side through.
The Pakistani flag at the New Wanderers suddenly vanished as the stadium resembled a sea of tri-colours.
It was not a match for those weak at heart and once they had pulled off the tie, the Indian players were hugging each other, while Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvvraj Singh grabbed a stump each as souveneirs.
This was followed by a victory lap.
Suddenly Yuvraj rushed to the gallery where a supporter handed him a national flag and soon each of his teammates got hold of one.
Harbhajan was ecstatic, relieved that his expensive third over, in which he was hit for three sixes, did not cost India the match.
The prankster in Yuvraj soon pinned down Virender Sehwag, who missed the match with a groin injury, and then his teammates followed suit.
Dhoni, meanwhile, did a Salman Khan as he took off his jersey and gifted it to a yougn fan and walked bare-chested as ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed came forward to shake hands.
All the while, Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Nasim Ashraf was seen consoling the Pakistani players, who were terribly upset at not being able to break a long-standing jinx and lose yet another World Cup match to theirarch-rivals.
After the prize distribution ceremony, the Indian players shared their 'Chak de' moment with Shah Rukh Khan, who had flown in just to watch the match.
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