Its been a long time since I posted. Terribly sorry. Would’ve sinned for longer if not for this powerful force, this earth-shattering, TV-burning mother of all cricketing events, which forced me out of deep slumber.
The World Cup 2011 started off with a lot of promise, and a lot of speculation – hanging in the balance was the future of One Day Internationals, which was literally falling into a deep slumber when the T20 format whooshed along in a race for survival. This was India’s moment of reckoning – for once they were considered genuine contenders for cricket’s biggest prize. Added pressure? We have Captain Cool. Honestly I’m nowhere near his biggest fan – mainly due to his lucky escapes and demolition of RCB.
Concerned ICC voices put up a façade saying All Is Well, and it makes a lot of sense to include minnows. Hypocrisy crept in, a few days into the tournament the next edition was cut short to 10 teams from the present 14.
India’s start was nothing short of spectacular, with Viru almost living upto his promise of batting 50 overs. Detractors began to wonder if this monster had been domesticated? Had it started thinking differently? Negative. As the tournament progressed, Viru was back to his own self. Much to the respite of some, leaving others fuming. Through this period – there were two distinct groups of people – the purists and the pretenders – the former sticking to Bharat Mata no matter what happened – and the latter hesitantly supporting the team – just waiting for one slip up to brandish their swords. Very intriguing to watch – personally I was more of a purist – except when it comes to Captain Cool. For some reason, I just hated him. India was really mature through the group stages – nothing too brash or headline grabbing. Except for the loss against South Africa – which did bring those doubts back – is THIS team on its way to the trophy?
This was a period when the pretenders could clearly be differentiated from the purists – the staunch devotees stuck to their Gods, while the unsure ones still did look at other faiths. None of these were to be found – three-consecutive-time-world-cup-champions Australia, definitely dented by their greats hanging up their boots, were made to look like mortal, on a stage which was theirs for more than a decade – a stage which they made the rules. Dismantled everyone in their path.
Enter Semis – a dream billing – one worth 10 times every penny spent. Another India Pakistan WC game – and cruelly not to be Shoaib’s goodbye game. He was dropped for a rookie who went on to pick a fiver – which still let India put up a good total. The pretenders were still unsure – yet they let out half-hearted cheers for every wicket in the Pakistan innings – where they finally succumbed to very test match like attitude – they ran out of steam, and balls. India marched, or scraped – depending on how you see it – into the finals.
“Bees Saal Baad” came in 2003. Gave some hope. The bubble was cruelly burst. 8 years on, in another final. Co Hosts clashing in a battle for one day supremacy. The games itself were such high voltage – heavyweights from all spheres descended upon this spectacle – sports, business, Bollywood, politics. This time it was a much better looking outfit – with inputs from adventurer Mike Horn, mental condition coach Paddy Upton, 6 of India’s 2003 WC final team, and the Chanakya of Indian Cricket – Guru Gary. Gary Potter. Call him what you want, but at the end of 8 hours of slow over rate cricket – “Captain Cool” lofted one of Sri Lanka’s eyebrow raising selection – Kulasekara for a humungous six – hell broke loose before the ball landed in the crowd. This was a fine moment – insane energy – stunned audience – stunned skipper – relieved coach –exultant audience. It was a potboiler of emotions – the cricket was forgotten – this win was one with more value outside the sporting world than in it.
Impact was immense - it brought probably the World’s best batsman to tears – so was the Surd and Singh. Tears of Joy flowed through – this was the cup of joy, and it had come home.This Cup united people all over the nation – it thrashed all barriers – it was a moment for the nation to rejoice. Every Indian was brought to tears – such was the magnitude of achievement – such was how the Cup unites. The nation celebrated and it was one crazy night – I personally did not know how to react – it took some time for this fact to sink in – WORLD CHAMPIONS – WORLD NO. 1 in Test and ODIs. India – the new Australia!
On a personal note, the last two games were screened at our Silver Jubilee Auditorium – a 1500 odd seater. Drums, Vuvuzelas, whistles, chants, face paintings – this atmosphere made it much much better. This was probably what made emotions rise and fall – faster than a stock market – a thousand plus Indian fans cheering for every single, every chance of a wicket, every other thing which would’ve gone unnoticed at home or while streaming on the laptop. Words failed to describe the winning moments – I was left speechless – for the first time sport has affected me to this extent. Magical it was listening to present and future heroes – future demi gods – describe their emotions and efforts at the end of the win. This was definitely Dada’s Cup as it was MSD’s or Sachin’s. We shouldn’t forget the base set up by him in early 2000s, when the team was in the doldrums. And irony it was that Dada was in the commentary box at this historic time. Icing would’ve been for him to conduct the presentation. Yet again, one can’t ask for everything.
Purists had attained salvation, while the pretenders finally found a staunch reason to show their loyalty – a reason to jump onto the bandwagon in happy times. Still, this was not the time for discrimination – all were embraced alike.
The 2nd of April, 2011 forever will be among my finest memories – it was beyond any description, yet the scenes shall remain etched forever. This was a defining moment in my many many years of Indian cricket fandom – all these years’ wait for consistency, class and Cup – finally bore fruit – and I only hope it gets better – I really don’t mind MSD that much now as long as he has the Midas touch.
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| Defining Moments - Still a Kid - Sachin Tendulkar dedicates the Cup to one of India's heroes And yeah, the World Cup pic. |
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