The only way Pakistan was going to win this match was by putting up a good bowling performance to silence the crowd and take away the momentum. They did exactly that, but in doing so not only did they silence the 25,000-plus crowd at Mohali but even on cyberspace, India fans got a dose of shock and awe.

Dominant discussions included the several dropped catches and missed chances of Sachin Tendulkar.

However, with his dismissal, Indian fans on Facebook and Twitter seemed to lose faith in their team and the match.

Hype

However, India Inc on the social networking world seemed unfazed. Amongst the famous Twitterati, Mr Vijay Mallya, much like the two captains, tried to play down the excitement around this match: “I can neither understand nor appreciate media hype 'n speculation on d Ind v Pak game. Puts pressure on players. As if they don't have enough,” he ranted.

The junior Mallya, his son, Sidhartha, got to the stadium a bit early, it looked like. But on such a day even if one reaches early there is no boredom. “Just about everyone I've seen is in some form of blue India shirt. Have not seen any green. Although someone is here in a red Canada shirt!” – is what he had to say about the crowd on his twitter page.

Mr Anand Mahindra, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Mahindra Group, expressed his own form of diplomacy on Twitter and said, “Frankly, I think we've already won the Cup — collectively, as a sub-continent.”

At the halfway mark, the crowd is silent, cyberspace is silent and could history repeat itself? For, every India-Pakistan match attended by a Pakistani head of state has been won by Pakistan! At the time of going to press, we don't know if that will hold true.

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