DURBAN: 'Paisa Vasool!' That cry from one very happy fan summed up the sentiments of thousands of expatriates from the Indian subcontinent who joined locals for one of the most thrilling games yet in the Twenty20 World Championships at the Sahara Kingsmead Stadium.
The fan, Ismail Mohamed, was reacting to Yuvraj Singh getting the Man of the Match Award after he hit his way into history on Wednesday night by becoming the first player in the newest format of the game to hit six sixes in an over.
Yuvraj joined the legendary Gary Sobers and Ravi Shastri in first-class matches and South African Herschelle Gibbs in the 2007 World Cup to achieve this unique feat.
"But if it was not for that amazing achievement of Yuvraj, my Man of the Match would have been Harbhajan Singh," Mohamed added, as his turbaned friend Ranjeet Singh interjected, "That penultimate ball that Harbhajan stopped so brilliantly almost robbed England of getting to 200. Pity they still got it off the last ball."
In a match that England could have taken lightly since they were already out of the semi-final reckoning, they fought with gusto to give the spectators the thrill of seeing more than 400 runs scored in three hours.
Yuvraj reached his 50 off just 12 balls after hitting six sixes in one Stuart Broad over, giving him the record scoring the fastest half-century in any form of cricket. The previous fastest 50 was by Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful against the West Indies.
Sahara Kingsmead is expected to be completely packed on Thursday evening when India takes on the hosts South Africa in a match to decide which two teams make it to the semi-finals from Group E of the tournament.
New Zealand will be watching that game keenly as they are currently behind India on net run-rate and a narrow defeat of the home could send the Kiwis packing.
