Klusener played the way India would. A one-man dynamo, he converted a losing match for South Africa (SA) into a winning one, raised everyone's hopes and then dashed them. Like a pilot with all his engines blown, managing to get the plane down to an airfield, and then forgetting to put on the brakes and crashing. Each time Klusener faced the ball, he made runs and had Australia sweating. He scored some 39 runs in about 16 balls and needing something like 50 runs in 36 balls to win, he brought SA to a point where it needed only one run in 4 balls. And then.......he ran himself out. It was worse than Leonardo dying in the last reel of the Titanic after all the scenes of courage and heroism.

It was a tie, in case you forget. Australia won on a technicality due to better points gained in the Super Six. And though Australia was the better team in this match, I was rooting for SA. Amazing how things change. All through my childhood, SA was the country you loved to hate - apartheid, the atrocities against Mahatma Gandhi and Tom Sharpe's lovely humor. And last night, I was all for SA.

Why? Because I didn't believe that Australia had it in them to defeat Pakistan in the finals. And Pakistan must lose. The happenings at the Kargil border, the unnecessary torture of the captured Indian soldiers and the blase attitude of the Pakistani politicians, make it impossible for me to have any positive feelings for Pakistan. All this talk about keeping politics and sports separate is just so much bullshit. I know of nobody around me who will be happy with a Pakistan win. And though I consider myself reasonably balanced, this time, a win for Pakistan will be like the class weasel cheating in the exams, getting caught, demanding the right to copy and then coming first.

So, for Pakistan to lose, its opponent had to be strong. And Australia did not inspire confidence.....until now. Australia seems to be peaking. This, combined with its mental strength and tenacity (which has been the only reason they have come so far), should hopefully get them the cup.

Imagine! On Sunday, a country of 900 million people will be praying for Australia to win. In another saner time, I am sure many of us might have rooted for Pakistan so that the cup would remain in our subcontinent. But this Sunday, more than 5 times the population of Australia will be egging Australia on. What more could Australia want.

Since I don't pray, I'll probably do my bit by changing my beer to Foster's. And if Pakistan wins? I'll just shrug it off knowing that India will eventually have the last laugh, only I don't know when. Why do I say so! Because of Madhuri Dixit, Shahrukh Khan, Channel V, MTV, Zee TV and our democracy. Because of the greater freedom that Muslims have in India, a majority Hindu state, than in Pakistan, a majority Muslim state. And because........we are the nice guys. Unfortunately, that's also how we play our cricket.....very "nicely".

PS: Australia destroyed Pakistan on Sunday