It's something straight out of Lagaan, the Bollywood movie set in 1893 that told the story of an imperial (and imperious) English cricket team losing against a ragtag group of oppressed Indians of different religious backgrounds.

It's now 2007, the setting is Sabina Park, Jamaica, and the reason for the meeting is the cricket World Cup: a chance, like Lagaan, for the Third World to meet the First and give it a good thrashing. However, the cricket world has changed a bit since 1893 and the Goliath in this case is Pakistan, with such giants of the game as Inzamam-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, and the imperious genius Mohammad Yousuf. Pakistan is a country that takes its cricket extremely seriously. The David here is Ireland, a country with a similarly fraught relationship with England and one that has tended to export cricketers of any merit, such as Ed Joyce, Samuel Beckett, and James Joyce. (Well, the latter two cricketers may be better known for other things.)

So, no one's giving Ireland much of a chance, especially since they tied their last game with lowly Zimbabwe. But, lo and behold, to worldwide astonishment, Ireland bowl Pakistan out for a mere 132, and then, in spite of a few jitters, manage to reach their target with a few balls to spare. And on St. Patrick's day, no less! No one can believe it, except that same day, the mighty Indians were felled by the up-and-coming Bangladeshis. To be sure, a day for giantkillers.

The Indians are still in the competition, but the Pakistanis will go home to a welcome that threatens to be hostile and, potentially, shake the political establishment of not only the Pakistani cricket authorities but the government itself. Now that would be a reversal worthy of Lagaan.