Victory came at midnight and the celebrations continued till daylight. For Team Jaipur, celebrations after every win had become a habit, but the one following the title triumph on Sunday was special. “We danced away the whole night and everyone just let his hair down”, team official Narender Joshi said.

The players finally decided to go to their hotel rooms at 6 on Monday morning. “No one wanted to sleep”, Joshi said. “In fact, no one felt sleepy”.

For a team that had been dismissed as nohopers at the beginning of the tournament, the victory was indeed an appropriate answer to the critics.

And perhaps, that’s why skipper Shane Warne was the happiest of the lot.

He thanked everyone for having played his role to perfection. “It was great to be in the same team as all of you”, Warne is supposed to have said. There was a special word for man-of-the-match Yusuf Pathan.

“Welcome to Team India, mate”, Warne is said to have told Yusuf, as the others applauded. “Best of luck. You have a great future”.

There were words for the youngsters in the side too. “You guys have an excellent future”, he told the Swapnil Asnodkars and the Dinesh Salunkhes.

The players will carry these words of encouragement into India’s domestic season and hopefully, repeat their IPL show. They’ll also carry with them the discipline that they learnt while being part of the winning team.

Team Jaipur disbanded in Mumbai, at least for the time being, on Monday morning itself. In fact, by 10 am, the Pakistani members of the squad were already on the flight back home. IPL over, they would start their preparations for the Bangladesh series soon.

Younus Khan hadn’t been with the team for long, but for Sohail Tanvir and Kamran Akmal, it was an emotional moment. “The players wanted to go back to Jaipur, but it wasn’t possible”, Joshi said.

“Going back would have meant an additional two days, which many players could not afford”.

Emerging Media, owners of Team Jaipur, will soon be giving special gifts to the players. “Of course, we might not be able to get all of them together very soon”, Joshi said, adding that the special gifts will be sent to them.

Of course, there will be monetary incentives too, for the players. Emerging Media had already announced those and a part of the prize money will also go into the players’ pocket.

Source: The Times of India, Mumbai, 3rd June 2008

Back