- By Dreamcatcher
I used to be an avid blogger but then the “routine life” got the better of me and there just wasn’t a good enough reason to type away vehemently anymore. Now, if this doesn’t excite me, I don’t know what else will. If I had to find ONE perfect day to start blogging again, this is THE DAY! 2nd April, 2011 – the day Team India won the ODI Cricket World Cup. Like one of my friends rightly said on Facebook – “I'm sure India looked a lot brighter last night from space...over a billion people were smiling”!
Cricket is a religion in India. It speaks one language. It generates one emotion from great-grandparents and children alike. It knows no boundaries. It’s the one thing we all proudly carry with us when we leave our countries. It exudes the feeling of patriotism and when we win, it exudes the feeling of love – love for the nation and love for those 15 men (and their troop) who made it all possible for the country to stand united and celebrate!
I cannot explain the feeling and the rush that I am experiencing today and I am sure, every Indian world over is speechless. “Damn, why was I not home in India with family and friends to celebrate this day”.
The Cricket World Cup fever would start catching on when the promotions and the memorabilia started showing up in stores, stands, posters, Pepsi bottles and potato chips packs. Bollywood stars took a backseat those days. The World Cup series made us so disciplined for those 6 weeks. We planned our days and schedules around it :)! We went from one World Cup to another hoping that “Oh God, this year God, this year! Please give us the World Cup”. We didn’t make it but we never gave up! That’s just not OUR style. The series would end. Life would get back to normal. Tennis grand slam events, football World Cup and Bollywood & Hollywood movies acted like the fillers between shows. And THEN, 4 years on, another madness, another euphoric series, another billion prayers and another billion smiles and tears.
Indians are probably the only people in the World who believe that when Team India plays the match, we must ALL contribute. We all have our little superstitious beliefs. We wear our lucky T-shirt. We have our lucky spots to watch the match. “Damn, I got up from my spot and Gambhir got it”! I must admit, before every match with Team India playing in it, Mummy, Ruchi and I would religiously place a Ganpati idol on top of the TV. Didi on the other hand, would perform the more selfless act. She believes that when she watches the match – India loses. The suspense would kill her but she would go inside a room and sit, getting constant running commentary from Papa and us. She would run back to the TV for replays and run back inside when the match resumed. She wanted to do her bit to make INDIA win! Awww!
The World Cup finals yesterday between Sri Lanka and India was magic. Team India has definitely matured. We beat Australia (the 3 times unbeaten team) in the quarter finals only to meet PAKISTAN in the semi finals of the WORLD CUP.
(On a digression: That was the day I left office at 5:30 pm (in the longest longest time. I could not care less if I was done with work or not). And all my other Indian colleagues did too. It’s an unspoken code of conduct. We all just understood and no one “followed-up” with another on a pending action. And what a match…WHAT A MATCH! It was nail biting. Pakistan was cruising away well towards their target of 261 and until very long, it was becoming clear the Pakistan would beat us to reach the finals in Mumbai. But Team India would just not give up and did we beat them or what!?!?!)
The tension in the air yesterday was just too unsettling. We lost our opening batsmen – Sehwag and Sachin very early on in the game. We all started losing hopes but the middleorder batsmen saved the day and brought home the glory. Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh played with such technique and finesse, keeping their composure through the game. Its very easy and exciting, to get led by the thousands of supporters sitting in the stadium looking forward to an exciting match. and try and aim for the 4-runs and 6-runs shots. But we played well. 1 and 2 runs at a time with the occasional 4-runs. The objective was to win. One of my friends said yesterday, “The best part is that we won the Cup despite the Little Master's mishap, which brings great hope & faith in our team's future”. So damn true!
Accolades for Captain MS Dhoni’s leadership are all over the internet. He is DA MAN! He led the team to create history. He proved to be the new “Wall” in Indian cricket. He IS stronger than his fears. As NDTV put it, “The Man, The Machine, MS Dhoni”.
But if there is one reason that every Indian wanted the cup THIS year, it was for Sachin Tendulkar – only the greatest batsmen ever. He played for the country since he was 16 and today, at 37, this is probably his last World Cup. He is the only batsmen in the world with 99 centuries under his belt. We all hoped he would make his 100th yesterday. He has been part of Team India in 6 World Cups. He is a legend and he is a star. We deserved a win! He deserved to be part of the team that brings home the cup. He deserved this for enthralling the world with his performance for 21 years. He deserved this for being an inspiration to every aspiring cricketer in India. He deserved this win for his dedication to the Team and to the country. He deserved this win for putting the country first before himself.
This Cup is being called the Sachin cup and rightly so.
Yuvraj Singh – the Man of the Tournament admitted that he played only for Sachin.
Gaurav Gambhir said “All credit goes to Sachin Tendulkar. We played for him. Beating Australia and Pakistan and now this, it's a dream come true".
Virat Kohli probably puts it the best - "This goes out to all the people of India. This is my first World Cup; I can't ask for more. Tendulkar has carried the burden of nation for 21 years; It was time we carried him. Chak de India!"
That is the charisma of THIS man. He is bigger than the Cup and yet all he hoped for was the Cup. That ONE CUP, without which, his autobiography would be so incomplete. The ONE Cup which added the extra shine to his legendary achievements.
Our “Little Masterblaster” himself was moved to tears. “I couldn't have asked for anything more than this. Winning the World Cup is the proudest moment of my life. Thanks to my team-mates. Without them, nothing would have happened. I couldn't control my tears of joy”.
This is the best feeling ever. It is the feeling where nothing else matters. The feeling where all you want to do is hold onto family and friends and just jump and scream without a care for the world. It’s a feeling when you know that everything is just right and that if you truly believe in something, it can and will come true. It’s the feeling that reaffirms your faith. It’s the emotions that only a Cricket World Cup can bring to an Indian!
So proud!
