Alright I’m still getting closer to believing that India has won the Cricket World Cup 2011. We won it on 2nd April 2011 and I am only still writing about it today. The feeling is taking sometime to sink in.
However, the one thing that I am sure of is I’m going to be able to tell my kids, and very proudly (mind you) that their Papa was in the stadium where India recorded a victory and became World Champions after 28 years; where a thoroughly deserving Sachin Tendulkar with 22 years of solid Cricket behind him was carried on his teammates’ shoulders right in front and most players acknowledged that they wanted to win the Cup for him; where a bold Captain MS Dhoni, not eschewed by his lack of runs in his recent run, was gutsy enough to come early on when needed perhaps against all odds, played an innings of his life and hit one of the massive sixes to announce the Win, a Captain’s innings truly; where Gautam Gambhir who scores consistently but never seems to be around on the pitch, plays another of his match-winning knocks, one of the finest Indian players in all formats of the game truly; where a non-Indian coach Gary Kirsten, a South African, was given as much respect as the greatest player on earth deserved and who was carried on World Cup winning team’s shoulders deserving every bit of the respect; where a player Yuvraj Singh who is one of the most stylish looking left handed batsmen, just sometime before the World Cup was about to quit Cricket, ‘roared’ in the middle of the pitch when the winning runs were hit and he became the Man of the Tournament, a supremely deserving reward for him; where a boy called Virat Kohli, supposedly the future Indian Captain in my books, stays at the pitch when required, against all odds in a World Cup final match.
Yes. My kids are going to have to listen to me, for not once but time and again.
I would also add that each Indian player cried, some like babies, like the way you’ll do. They didn’t know what and how it happened, but supposedly only knew that they deserved that win and had won. We (Indians) however did believe that India deserved that win, each one of us at the stadium with millions watching on TV and some estimated billion Indian fans, always did.
In the first half of the match, (more…)
VB 