It’s not very often that we witness 2 Diwalis in a
particular year. But this is what happened in India in the
year 2011. The first was celebrated on 2nd
April & the other on 26th
October.
Just when Indian skipper M.S.Dhoni lofted Nuwan Kulasekara
over long-on for a massive six, the entire nation turned into unbridled celebration
because the sailing ball had made India the new emperors of the cricketing
world. India was already the ICC ranked # 1 Test Team and now they were the new
World Champions in ODI format. Thus, 2nd April, 2011 was India’s
second cricketing tryst with destiny. Today we celebrate 1st
anniversary of that epic victory in Wankhede.
The road to victory was not a fairytale; India had to earn
this victory. It took them 28 years to repeat history. The 15 men and the entire
support staff should get the full credit for making it happen. There have been
too many guys working behind the curtains. Yuvraj Singh & Zaheer Khan were
the premier architects along with coach Gary Kirsten, for marshalling the
troops to perfection, & captain M.S.Dhoni, for rising to the occasion when
he was needed the most. The skipper had soaked and absorbed all the pressure of
the grand finale. Special contributions came from Sachin Tendulkar( 2nd
highest run getter of the tournament), Gautam Gambhir, Virendra Sehwag, Virat
Kohli, Munaf Patel, etc.
The last 1 year hasn’t been good for Indian cricket. Just
when we were expected to dominate the cricketing world, we collapsed,
especially on foreign soil. Things started to go haywire. 8 consecutive losses
on foreign soil in Test matches. It took 34 innings for the master to get to his 100th International ton. Yuvraj Singh is down with cancer treatment. We miss him terribly. In the
meanwhile, Rahul Dravid, the legend
& the wall, bid adieu to all forms of cricket. All this indicate the rough
& the lean patch Indian cricket experienced in the last 366 days.
But there has
been a silver lining in form of Virat Kohli. This guy has arrived big time in
ODIs & has also been a revelation in Tests. May be the next cricketing
season would bring new joys for Indian cricket and its legion of fans as
cricket is all about “Law Of Averages”.
Rahul Dravid once said “Joys are temporary,
as are tears”.
So as we all wait for a rebirth of the Indian Cricket, let’s
celebrate the first anniversary of the epic victory we all witnessed a year
back….a victory that still brings a smile, tears of joy, makes us feel proud
and ecstatic. Let’s join hands to revisit the euphoria.
.... @ Debashish
Yes, its all so true! It was ecstatic and euphoric then, followed by wounds. But let us hope future will be bright, our team will learn consistency, and give us more happy times!
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