I must admit that being the guy who said just last year that I find it very hard to think of any reason to like cricket, I may come across as a bit of a hypocrite writing this piece. [Editor: You don't sound like a bit of a hypocrite Rudra, you sound like a total hypocrite!]

Yesterday saw the victory of the Indian cricket team against Pakistan in the 20-20 World Cup final. Right after the game me and some mates drove down to the shops and were completely stunned by the atmosphere on the streets. It was absolute madness! There were flags flying all over the place. Cars were getting stopped, there were people running about on the streets playing drum and shouting “Bharat Mata ki Jai”. In case anyone is wondering, I was not in India but in East London. Some of the people saw the OM sign on our car mirror and came up to our car and started shouting “Jai Mata Di”.

I don’t wanna sound like that Indian guy who says cricket is crap when the team is losing and jump ships as soon as they win, but I must admit the atmosphere was absolutely electric. For a good fifteen to twenty minutes whole place myself included, were completely caught up in the frenzy and in that moment I had no problem being a hypocrite.

Judging by the phone calls from people living in places like Southall and Wembley, the atmosphere was even more charged up. If for no other reason, I would be an ardent supporter of cricket just to witness and be part of that charged up and energetic scene.