World Cup Triumph

World Cup Triumph

Would like to start by congratulating Team INDIA on their amazing WC win. After the team would like to congratulate the Support Staff of the team and last but not the least Congratulations to the fans. Fans if not more but have worked equally hard to win this Cup. Except a few everyone has been supporting the team in ups and down, more so important when the team is down.

This world cup win has been nothing less than magnificent it’s been a complete team effort thought out this tournament it’s been superb team effort. Everyone has chipped in when it was very important. As in the past all the world cup winning teams start slowly and then they start peaking at the right time. Be in India in 1983 when they lost to West Indies in round robin match and when there were in trouble against minnows Zimbabwe at 17 for 5 before Kapil Dev played captains knock of 175.

In 1987 the World Cup was in Asia and no one gave chance to Australia to win it.

Pakistan didn’t start well in 1992, mid tournament there were 3^rd team from bottom and we all know how the tournament ended for them. In 1996 Sri Lanka was least expected to win the World Cup. In 1999 Australia lost matches in WC unlike their next two triumphs.

So like past winners India was a bit slow to start. Before the tournament started many people thought India would win the tournament but 2 weeks into the tournament everyone would have changed their opinions. India’s performance against Bangladesh especially the bowling was poor, their next game against England which ended in a tie was a shocker specially after scoring 330runs, but after Andrew Strauss’s innings the tie would have made India happy, but I would still feel that Tie against England was a poor result for Team India. Their next two matches against Ireland and Netherlands ended in Indian victory which was expected out of the Team but still the way India won was less than convincing losing half the side while chasing 200 odd runs. But these two games gave us Yuvraj Singh the bowler. His Fiver against Ireland was truly the highlight of the World Cup. Then came along the loss against South Africa, if we consider the start that Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag gave in that match losing that match was a nightmare. But when you also consider that India made only 296 and they lost the match only in the last over so this bowling performance was the best bowling and fielding performance till that time in the tournament.

Then came the match which I think made the real difference and this match got India peaking and it was the best time to peak and so well did them. The match against West Indies was the best game in round robin for Indian bowling. The win did not excite me but the thing that I excited me was the way Team won. Virender Sehwag was sitting out for this game. Unlike other games Sachin Tendulkar was out early in the innings, when he walked while the umpired didn’t give him out.  Then came the Yuvraj the batsmen and he conquered the world with his batting this time scoring a century his maiden century in World Cups. After amazing innings by Yuvraj Singh, India didn’t not end up making up a big score. 268 are what they could manage which was the lowest score by Team India batting first in 1^st stage of this World Cup. But the way the bowlers made a comeback in this match was amazing to see especially after West Indies made a good start with the bat and were going strong when Indian bowlers decided to end the match early. This was the best bowling performance in round robin matches and also the best victory by the team in round robin matches. This is the match where India looked at home and they started to peak from this match. They Started to peak not too early and not too late just at the right time before the knockouts.

Then came the 3 most amazing victories for India in World Cup, one was against the three time world cup winning team Australia and the team which made their dreams shatter in 2003, and then against the arch rivals Pakistan and then came the final victory against the team which washed away India’s dream of winning the world cup in 1996 by defeating them in 1996 World Cup semi finals in Calcutta (now Kolkata). With each game India’s performance got better in Knock Outs. I feel the difference between the Sri Lankan team and the Indian Team this World Cup was the road to the finals. Where Sri Lanka had a much easier route to World Cup finals playing Tired England in Q F's and New Zealand in SF's where as India has more difficult route to Finals playing Australia and Pakistan in Q F's and SF's respectively.

There is a saying "Still Waters do not make Skilled Sailors". So may be since India had come through rough waters they were more ready for the Finals and were more skilled as compared to Sri Lanka on the day.

India’s performances are more commendable because of the pressure they were surrounded with. Be it from Media and the home crowd. World Cup has never been won by the host till date; this shows the amount of pressure home crowd creates on their team. This World Cup win is more so sweet because it came in the host country for the winning team, like 1996 Sri Lanka won the World Cup but then the finals were played in Pakistan. But this Indian Win was in India which makes me applaud this performance more so.

This World Cup win would take Indian Cricket to higher levels. It’s a dream for every player to win the ultimate trophy in cricket. This World Cup would also help the ICC to advertise the 50 over game which was slowly dying because of invention of Twenty-20 cricket. I don’t think ICC needs to worry about the future of 50-Over format any further as the biggest cricket loving nation has won the trophy. This world cup win would also promote the game further especially among people who thought 50-over cricket was boring. The fight of tickets for the final match assures the safe future of One Day cricket. This win would also make kids take up the sport more, as when young kids watch such amazing victories its more so motivating for them to take up the game, so this win would also improve the standard of the game in future. The Master Blaster Sachin has many times said that seeing the team win the World Cup in 1983 when he was just 10 yrs motivated him and it was his dream to win the ultimate trophy. So this win would also help India to produce some more great players in future which would benefit the Indian cricket. So this win would help India reap benefits for many more years to come. It won’t be surprising to see many young kids taking admission in cricket academy this summer vacations. It’s like seeding a mango tree by the grandfather but the benefits that is the mango fruit would be enjoyed by the grand children over the years.

Would like to end up by saying Congratulations once again to everyone and thank you to Team India for making us proud. Cricket is something that unites every Indian. 

Proud to be an Indian.