17 April, 2011

INDIAN CRICKET: From 1983 ‘UNDERDOG’ to 2011 ‘FAVOURITES’!

The World Cup 2011 was considered as one of the open World Cups, where, every team had the capability and resources to become the World Champion. The strongest contenders for the cup were: the Aussies, the Lankans, the Pakistanis and last, the Indian Team which got the crown ultimately. India, a country of 1.21 billion people, is the Global Hub for cricket and many believe that their excellence in the sport can well become a ladder for them to climb the Development Everest.
The Indian Team had performed consistently well in the last two and their chances of winning the championship were bright too. But, it is not just the Cricket that matters. The load of expectations of the 1.21 billion is on your shoulders (being a player), if you are a representative of their cricket, that is a member of the Indian Cricket Team. This is what the real test is and the team which handles it well has a better chance. I remember a veteran of the game saying on a News Channel that the viewers or rather the Indian viewers have a passion attached to their game. If ‘their’ player makes a hundred, ‘they’ feel they have scored it. But, if he fails then he will be criticized seriously by ‘them’. Coming from behind and making a mark is one thing and making a mark when you are expected to make it, is a different thing. This is what the major difference between the 1983 and the 2011 World Cup win is. I am not saying that the 1983 Team hadn’t had the quality, they had, but they were not under pressure to perform and played just the cricket not the nerves. The 1983 team had a bunch of Medium Pace swing bowlers and the England conditions assisted them. They could well have been all over the places if they had played on Indian Pitches which are flat.
The 2011 World Cup side is a champion side. The decisive blend of youth and experience both in the bowling and the batting department is fantastic. The Sachin- Sehwag opening duo is undisputedly the best in the world. The CAPTAIN COOL, as he popularly known as, is himself a dangerous hitter currently #7 in the ICC ODI Batsmen Rating. Even the great Tendulkar has admitted after the World Cup win that Dhoni is the best captain he has played under.
All in all, there is no comparison between the legends of the two different eras. If 1983 was the start of the ‘Golden Age’ of Indian Cricket, then 2011 is an impetus to that Golden Run.
Congratulations Indian Cricket Team for winning the cup and the hearts of 1.21 billion Indians plus the Cricket Lovers, all over the world!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Creative Commons License
frankspot by Gopal Sharma is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 India License.