It was a dull Thursday morning in Multan. The tight security one witnessed along the road to the ground during the first four days of the first Test was wafer-thin. From the bus driver to the stadium staff, all were unhappy that the Test had extended to the fifth day. One journalist suggested that had the game ended on day four he could have gone sightseeing.
The security officer at the stadium entrance who greeted me and checked my bag every morning was indifferent. For an Indian, the atmosphere at the stadium was rather strange. After 12 balls on day five of the Test, when victory was India's, the silence was dramatic. The gates connecting the press gallery to the ground were shut just when the prize-distribution ceremony was underway. None of the journalists could get close to the action, or the celebrations.
A cordon was thrown around the gate through which journalists walked through without hindrance for the past four days. All the goodwill was history; the security personnel refused to give you a second look.
"Inzamam sadda sher hai, baki sab hera pher hai [Inzamam is always a lion, the rest are all useless]," screamed a spectator from the empty stands in the picturesque Multan ground.
In this city of saints, only Inzamam-ul Haq matters; the rest of the Pakistan team, which capitulated without a semblance of a fight, is viewed through tainted eyes.
But today was not about the cricket. It was about achievement; about joy.
I have spent a better part of my childhood praying for an Indian victory over Pakistan. It rarely came. It was always a matter of so close, yet so far. The last-ball six in Sharjah, the Bangalore Test defeat, the various defeats that followed in Sharjah, the Chennai loss despite a Tendulkar masterpiece, all came flashing back to memory as I saw Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and the others rush to pull out a stump for keepsake.
Of course, there was the Delhi ten-wicket haul by Anil Kumble, the World Cup victories over Pakistan and the great Dhaka chase that lifted the spirits, but a Test win in Pakistan was an unfulfilled dream.
Indeed, the triumph in Multan is special. After all, a first win is like your first love; you can never forget it.
In the dressing room, it was Lahore all over again as the Indians sang, danced and clicked pictures, freezing the historic moment for posterity.
While the Indians celebrated success, the Pakistani team was on the field practicing and preparing for the second Test in Lahore.
And Sachin Tendulkar was observing. He knew the battle was won, but the war is still on. Minutes later, the master batsman ordered team analyst S Ramakrishnan to video tape Umar Gul, who was bowling in the nets. News is that he might play the next Test.
You can count on Tendulkar to keep an eye on these finer details.
Shoaib Akhtar, who went wicketless in the Test, told NDTV India he needs to learn something from Irfan Pathan. Standing despondently, Akhtar remarked that while his bowlers tried for pace and yorkers, the Indian bowlers, especially Pathan, bowled well within their limitations, without experimenting too much.
"We need to learn something from them," he said.
Pathan, of course, embarrassed by the compliment, refused to believe that the Pakistan pace ace had complimented him.
While the team was celebrating victory, he spotted a bunch of kids waiting below the dressing room for autographs. In a flash he was down obliging the kids. And if that was not enough, he collected all their autograph books and got each member of the Indian team to sign on them. Those kids were probably the only Pakistanis happy that India won the Test!
Later, the team decided to celebrate by visiting an orphanage. After four hard days of cricket the players changed into casuals and undertook a 30-minute drive to the industrial area of Multan.
At the SOS Center, young children welcomed them with friendship bands and candles made by them. After watching a cultural programme presented by the kids, VVS Laxman, Tendulkar and a few others played cricket with them.
The 30 minutes the players spent at the orphanage gave the 200-odd underprivileged children the time of their lives.
Indian cricket fans will remember April Fool's Day of 2004 for all the right reasons!
