World Champions.

With so many people writing blogs and articles… two years before today I had decided not to blog about cricket until something extraordinary happens. Since then India have been crowned the ICC Test Champions, Sachin Tendulkar has transformed into an unstoppable force and Sehwag has redefined the test opening batsman. However, what happened on April 2nd of 2011 will be a memory that shall remain etched on the minds of a billion Indians for several years to come.

India defeated Australia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and in the process avenged the heartbreaks of 2003 and the disgrace of 1996 for a generation that I belong. Not many would forget that a common theme in 96, 03 and 11 was that Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar was the top scorer of the tournament in the first two and the second highest in the final triumph. May be it was fitting for the man to end up on the winning side after so many years of hardships representing a team that never seemed to rise to the occasion.

For someone who watched the 2003 final at the Bull-Ring before a final exam it was sweet revenge to see Punter on his knees after scoring a ton in Motera… we are emotional fans and to see Ponting’s ego crushed under the blitzkrieg that this Indian side is, was something we waited for. Also, it was fitting that this edition of the World Cup in the sub-continent had a final with India and SL facing each other. Any Indian who watched the SF in 96 would be more than happy to see the billing for this final… as most of us remember the heartbreak when India stumbled from 98/1 to 120/8 in the semifinal at Eden… we wanted to beat Lanka before we lift the trophy… we wanted SRT to enjoy the emotion of winning it all after he gave everything and lost twice. It wasn’t just another cup… it meant more to the nation… it meant more to the team… it deserved to end the way it did… because Sachin Tendulkar was destined to be the world champion.

May be his career wouldn’t have been as cherished if he had been in a world cup winning team in 92 or 96… because warriors are remembered more so for tragedies than they are for their victories. He reminds me of Chuck Noland who did what he did for he hoped to be home some day… SRT was also destined to bring this cup home some day… may be that’s why he did what he did when he knew there was nothing to become of it…

The other story….

Tendulkar aside… this cricket world cup was a story of two other men… who never enjoyed as much success and who might not have been as gifted but were extremely hardworking and had immense sense of self-belief. They were the boys from the India of Y2K… Zak and Yuvi. The flamboyant Yuvraj Singh and the charged up Zak of 2003 were nowhere to be seen… In 2011 it was the dependable Zaheer Khan and the responsible Yuvraj who turned up for the world cup. If not for them this world cup would probably have been Pakistan’s or who knows Sri Lanka’s even. Zaheer bowled his heart out in every match and was perhaps the best bowler of the tournament considering the tracks he was bowling were such lifeless ones unlike the ones in Lanka. Yuvraj has always performed below his potential as a batsman in the past three years but, for the last 45 days he has been phenomenal as a bowler and a batsman. His bowling was unbelievable because he was never as good a bowler… his batting was extremely responsible… his eyes seemed more focused than ever and the fielding reminded me of the Champions trophy in 2002 when he changed the game against RSA with one catch behind the stumps. In one word Yuvraj Singh was truly phenomenal in this tournament.

But, there was one more thing to this victory that had nothing to do with the above three but with someone whom I hated with all my heart (well… you know he axed Dada from the ODI squad). I loved MSD’s knocks during the early part of his career and hated his transformation into the anchor role that he seemed to perform for over the past couple of years. Yesterday I told my wife that if India’s got to chase down 275 MSD has to play the knock of his life to get us there, as I saw him play Murali a couple of times and knew he was the only one who’d pick Murali more than Yuvi or Raina. But, my hopes never work as MSD doesn’t always do what I pray for. Yesterday however was a whole different story, to see MS bat the way he did and the way he finished it was awesome. I hate him for what he did to Dada at the fag end of his career but, I respect him for his grit and guts to bat up the order and finish the game for India. I will never question his decisions or batting for may be another couple of years from now He played like a champion and if anyone deserved to be the world cup winning captain… it was him. Thank you MS for playing that knock in the final.

Several teams have been the champions but, no country loves their cricket as much as we and boy the celebrations were probably the best I’d ever seen. The fact that people in West Lafayette and Indonesia were shouting and jumping in their houses tells a lot about the cricket crazy nation that we are. And this cup was something we truly deserved. It was the only thing we asked from our cricket team and now that they have done it… there is nothing much left to ask for. Thanks Team India for making us proud. Thanks Sachin for playing when we knew what cricket meant. Many more cups may come… but this will remain cherished for this had a medal that went to the nation’s favorite citizen.. Sachin Tendulkar.