Am I happy? Elated? Proud? Excited? Well actually, I’m all of these but the most prominent feeling is that of ‘Relief’. I’m relieved that finally, after such a long wait, I won’t have to wait for another 4 years. Every 4 years, I used to get excited about India’s prospects; Except maybe in 2007 when we had the white elephants – the Fab 4 and I knew there wouldn’t be much hope, but still I was excited. Every 4 years, I watched how India promised a lot but delivered little.
I still clearly remember 1996 where India floundered on a turning track against Sri Lanka and the crowd went crazy, Kambli cried and I still thought he could’ve done it and was surprised when the game was awarded to Sri Lanka…
I guess, 1999 is the only year which I don’t clearly remember and don’t know why.
I cannot forget 2003 where we first floundered against Australia in a league game and batting first were around 14 for 3 and was all over even before we started. But then we conquered all teams, came back to peak form and were on a high entering the finals but were massacred by the 360 of Australia. And the same story repeats itself, Big occasion, massive run chase, first over – Sachin facing McGrath tries to pull a slightly short ball which hurries on to him and he skies the ball, McGrath completes a caught and bowled and again, the game ends before it even started.
2007 was the most horrible experience, in that we got a royal sendoff by minnows Bangladesh. The batting line up that included the Fab 4 folded for a measly 183 but the commentators were still upbeat about India’s chances. Tamim Iqbal had no such doubts and he thrashed everyone, including Zaheer all over the park and Dravid’s flustered face during that match became the face I hate the most in this world. Out went India from the first round and with it, another long wait of 4 years began.
And now I know why there is a feeling of relief overpowering everything else. Because, I always thought we were good enough to win the World Cup. I personally hate it when I know I’m capable of something but can’t accomplish it. I hate it when I am proven wrong about something over and over again; that I believed the Indian team was good enough to win the World cup but every 4 years, other teams said NO, INDIA CAN’T DO IT; and this went on for a good 28 years. That is almost my entire life. On every exit, I’d feel like a stone sinking to the bottom of the ocean and I’d know that it would be another 4 years till someone comes by and fishes me out. I would then block those unpleasant thoughts out of my mind and try and continue watching; celebrating every small win, every test win and every forced retirement of the white elephants. Finally, I’m relieved, I’ll have to do this no more and I can revel in this glory, at least for the next 4 years. I’m relieved that my team has finally performed… and proven me right.
And here are the winning moments that I will re-live over and over again…
And here is that winning moment in slowmo, the calm look in those eyes at such a moment is unreal – almost scary.
et tu, rakesh?
every indian was waiting for this moment. infact an entire generation was.
2007 was a nightmare. out in the 1st round. losing to bangladesh.
i remember watching the 2003 finals and the rain came. and how we wishing it was a wash out and maybe a rematch the following day!!!
even this time, at 31/2 i was like a zombie. thought history was gonna repeat itself. but we were proven wrong. like many times in the last 3 years. all i was praying for was a fight. not to whimper like 2003 but atleast put up a fight. but what a fight.
we are the world champions.
and the look on dhoni’s face with that final shot was unreal. rightly said. almost like he was in a zone of his own. the focus. the concentration. that look. truly personifies his character.
hats off to the entire indian team. and to dhoni. for giving us memories for a lifetime.
Yeah Masood, I’ll be lying if I say I didn’t have the same sinking feeling on the second ball when Veeru got out and then when Sachin got out. I swear to God, I thought this is gonna be a repeat of what I’ve seen all my life. I thought chasing 275 was gonna be anyways difficult against Malinga and Murali but I thought Sehwag would make a quickfire 30 odd in one or two overs to bring the target to 245 which is still reasonable. But second ball!!!
Thank Goodness, we didn’t have to live through another collapse. Finally, we are…
YEssss after the last debacle i guess every indian was waiting for this moment , i am sure if we had not won this year people would have revolted againt the cricketers.
But all in a all after the initial drama and hiccups and giving sings of repeating last world cup.. we managed to get our act right and OH BOY the way we did it ..
AUstralia – pakistan – sri lanks we dont make things easy for ourself but at least this way its good We did it in style and throughly deserved to be the CHAMPIONS
And for a change Sachin out at a petty score did not falter the forward march.. thank god ..
Well done to Team india…
Now looking forward to 2015 where we will RETAIN our cup 🙂 not asking for tooo much am i 🙂
Bikram’s
People do revolt Bikram but what happens, none of the Fab 4 retired out of shame after the 2007 World Cup. Even Dravid did not give up his captaincy. What could we do? What did we do at that time?
And yeah, after the league stage, I didn’t see much hope… Finally, we came around.
And 2015 is a long way away. Lets bask in the glory for now…
Psst… I’ve told my wife that I’ll take her to Aus. in 2015 coz. I’m again hopeful already, just like you 😛 he he
This was to happen… I always have waited as eagerly for this… !
Infact I didnt understand the game too much in 96, but we didnt have the best team then, even in 1999 we were still not the complete all round team…
but in the last 10 years or so since 2001, our team has shown more character they seem to have gotten over the fact that it was more than a one man team…
It was most refreshing to see Sehwag and Sachin go and yet we doing it.. !
If ever there was a team effort this was it… ! how all of them played and most importantly the fielding in the last 3 games… I have not seen the team field this well in the last decade !! and come to think of it we have about only 3 and a half good fielders in the team !!!!!
We simply proved we are a team and we are teh bloody best !!!
You know even when we didn’t have a good enough time, I thought we could do it… That was me being the typical Indian optimist. In 1999, I think there was that mammoth partnership between Ganguly and Dravid against Sri Lanka. But still, we were out of the tournament quickly.
Yes in the last 10 years, we have improved a lot. But the worst part of the last 10 years was the battle of the seniors to stick on and not being treated on merit. But that is history now.
Finally, we’ve fielded well and we’ve won 🙂 🙂
Honestly, cricket does not excite me one bit! My heart, mind and soul lies in football!
But then, this win was awe-fantastic-some!
It sure was Rakesh. In Dubai, I saw old aunties dancing in their balconies over this win… So you can surely join in, even though your soul is in Football 🙂
And I promise you, when India even qualify for the Football World Cup, I’ll join in 🙂
God! I know the feeling and most other Indians wud know it too 🙂
That ws a brilliant show put together by our team – like Hitchu says, the fielding and the fact that every player did his bit. We were on the roads partying till early next morning and those r scenes I will def. cherish in my heart forever 🙂
Wow, partying on the roads, even here in Dubai there was a lot of commotion in the Indian dominated area. Roads were blocked and people were out on the streets dancing and making merry.
No Pictures of the after party???
When everybody were down in the dumps after Tendulkar was out, I grew cheerful…now I knew India had a good chance, really my fear was tht ST wd get his century and the myth surrounding it wd take effect :-P.
We have a few Pakistani’s staying closeby and every time a wicket of ours fell u shd have hrd the noise they were making :-S. I guess they had reason as we made so much noise 2 days before tht 😀 but at this moment I got so violent & felt like throwing a stone & breaking all their windows
All in all I’m glad India achieved this without Sehwag or Tendulkars input….it shows there’s is more to the team than just a few heroes. And oh yes Dhone’s special :-)!!!!!
Dhone??? Whatever 🙂
Trust u…….in the whole 3 paragraphs u found only 1 mistake and u just had only tht to comment upon:-S
heheh. Were u in Bur Dubai to watch the action? (I was NOT!) I knew I’d get stuck, so I went home to bed. 😛
No but I heard about the celebrations! I was damn tired and drunk 😛
hehe. It was tiring wasn’t it! That weekend was super hectic for me too! And I wasn’t even drunk!
Oh My God what a moment that was, wasnt it? R & I wre ecstatic, we were literally screaming! Why, even Namnam started jumping seeing us both 🙂
I still get goosebumps thinking about that moment and when I saw this video here again, I felt a lump, really! Its one incredible moment I’ll never forget. And yes what a relief! We finally won the cup!
So how long are u going to stay ‘relieved’ 🙂
Even the IPL has come & gone 😀