Me and World Cup 2011

April 2nd 2011, India won its second world cup in World Cup History. Both times Indian Team has fought against mighty opponents and has become champions. In finals Kapil's Squad beat the mighty West-Indians and Dhoni's players dusted the Srilankan.

When the Indian Team started world cup campaign I was not sure about it's capabilities. The team was my favourite team but there were doubts about it's consistency. This inconsistency was evident on ground soon. In the first few league matches bowling did not click, fielding was pathetic and batting was below par. Batsmen were the tigers for minnows whereas they were nailed by better bowling attacks. At this time we could pray for some miracle to happen.

Soon the wind changed its direction and it started blowing in the favour of Indian camp. Indians were facing West Indies in their last league encounter. Suddenly Indians players were ruthless, unstoppable and completely energized. Bowlers were on target, fielders diving as if someone gave them wings to fly and batsmen were miles ahead of West-Indian bowlers.

But beating west Indies was not always enough for us to eradicate our doubts. Due to some bad performances in league matches Indians had to face mighty or rather say spirited Australian team in quarterfinals. Australians were the fierce opponent irrespective of their dented bowling line up. But this time Australians were not untouchable and they lost to India. Indian roared on the ground to announce the history in making.

Though I was enjoying the games but there was always an ounce of uncertainty in my mind. Here came the Semi-Finals. India had to face Pakistan, led by Shahid Afridi. Indians batsmen failed to deliver at big stage and doubts were proved true. But future had some other plans, when Indians came out to defend chutki Bhar score, they came out like tigers, eagles who do not just catch prey, they mutilate it. They did not put a foot wrong even for once and we were in the finals

This time I felt this is it. The Indian juggernaut is unstoppable now, I thought. After beating Pakistan I was calm and composed. My heart was not sinking, I was not nervous. Kunal said, either I have lost hope in India or else I do not care about it anymore. I told him, I know India will win, SL cant beat this team. Finally we won, I won, all of us won.

I was insane through out the match. I was dancing for each boundary scored and shouting for every single run taken. People were cheering, shouting and dancing with me. I did not have clue about right and wrong. I was just acting like a mad guy who enjoy without caring about world and instead regretting I was loving it. We all were in same conditions. Is not it?

Though I did not win the world cup and neither I have the right to dedicate it to someone but under any circumstances I want to dedicate this cup to myself. I have been waiting for this moment for my life time. I am not sure if I wanted this only in cricket but this cup has give me a comfort. I followed tennis where Indians cheer for someone who was 28th in world, don't we need more. I do. I wanted to tell my colleagues e.g. foreigners that we have the world class tennis player. But we don't. I followed soccer/football, but we are 27 from bottom among world football playing nations. I followed hockey, our national game, and again I never see myself cheering for world cup finals. I followed F1, none rests. I followed Olympics, where with one gold medal we keep boasting ourselves about our achievements. Asiads and CWG, everywhere I found the same disappointment. This time India won the world cup. Why should I dedicate it to someone else? I want to cherish it, I want to feel proud about it, I want to boast about it and I want to preserve it. By dedicating it to someone else, I will loose my share. I may be selfish but I do not care about you and your rights. Let me enjoy these moments, I might give a thought about you later.