This was not the under-dog, ignored 1983 team which pulled out super miracles against worlds best bowling attack till date and best batting line up of that era. In fact this was the team which was SUPPOSED to win the WC. Our best men forward, high youth power combined with experience, the team with no.1 Test and no2 ODI ranking.
No doubt, this was the WC destined to be of India, played on the sub-continent, ultra high spirits in the team, the ultimate master in best of his form and most of all a strategically sound captain with a real cool head and bias for action !
Even after that, now that finally its all done and over, the idea that India has won the world-cup has yet not sunk in to many ! and I am trying to make a guess at why is that so ?
May be because we were denied of it for too long. May be winning it now was all more important than winning it any-other time in the future .. for the sake of one little man who unites India like none other.
May be because it turned out to be a close tournament irrespective of all that was in favor of India!. Defeating the best of game: Aus, Pak in series of neck close matches in nerve cracking knock-outs !! and then the Lankans in a well suited final.If this was a movie I wonder if anyone could have been able to script it any better than this !
May be because this was special , all more special than 1983!!. After 1983, Cricket in India went on from being a small column in the sports section of newspaper to the entire news paper!. Commerce, politics, business, patriotism everything was linked to it on the day the team played !!.Since 1983 India produced and worshiped many great players. But this "metal pot" was denied to all the likes of Dravid, Ganguly, Kumble and even to the GOD until now!!.
May be because it was symbolic in a huge manner. I have never been a good student of history, but I dont know how many times in the past have so less men bought joy, energy and josh to sooo many people in such a short time. For once India looked utterly united in a very different way than I have ever seen or imagined. In US, when I was going home after watching the match, I would see flocks of desis returning back in groups. We looked at each other, smiled and knew that we all shared something common. I unknowingly raised my fist up in the air and so did those people few blocks away! I am sure this was happening to everyone, everywhere. A bunch of strangers shared the same feeling, that was felt 1000's of miles away in India or across the globe. Diversified as we are in our views, I would imagine that people of India unitedly felt the same for a given issue only once before: when India got its independence. If the excitement and joy level of each individual on the planet appeared as a small bright dot from the sky, clearly, you could have seen the bright dots connected all over the world in a manner that crosses all human-imposed borders and represent the real demography of today's India! The fact that same was felt on the online world and that all the facebook profiles looked almost identical was not a surprise to me!
May be for once in history, the complex Indian diversity and unity can be experienced and realized in such a small time by just one event!
May be for once it was difficult to know whether the corrupt politicians were supporting the team as a strategic move to gain support of the masses or because even they couldn't remain untouched by the magic of the moment! We are used to being just about there or better than the average .. but not the best. "Jugad" runs everywhere, which basically means only as much as needed and not necessarily the best. India had proved without doubt that they were dominant and best in something. Not any more., for once, we don't have to fall back on culture or quote the pre-vedic periods to defend that we matter. For this is current and now !!.
May be for once all the 'big people' in the spectators appeared to be far too ordinary in front of the game and the 'men in blue'
May be for once the man with big locks actually shaved his head !!, for once there is no one person who won the WC, and for once it was a team effort after all.
May be for once the tears at the corner of the eyes were not for nothing. And honestly, because ... none of us want to let this feeling sink in because to say that India has just won a trophy in a sport, would be a humongous understatement !
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