September 24th, 2007 - a golden day in the history of Indian Cricket. Truly, a momentous day with memories worth cherishing for ever and ever. After all, it is not for a small cause - India, yes our India won the Twenty-Twenty Cricket World Cup! That too; in a splendid style, with magnificent degree of passion & team effort, amidst unbelievable nail biting excitement - and not to forget - a fantastic victory against our arch-rival Pakistan.
Nothing could have been as exciting as India-Pakistan landing in the finals. It was a match one, just, could not afford to miss. The pre-match excitement was, really, on. Right from the toss; every moment had its own charm. It was a lovely game of cricket with a degree of anxiety and excitement unseen and unfelt for years - A hearty cheer & annoyance, shaky legs, shivering body, a pumping heart as fast as galloping horse, and not to forget - repeated prayers to all the Gods. Almost everyone tried his bit with clapping, jumping, shouting, dancing, praying, hooting........ Oh! All worthy-unworthy superstitions of sitting/standing or walking in a particular posture, switching off/on the television, not watching or barring someone from watching the match et al.,naturally, sprang up.
The match had almost turned upside down. It required enormous courage to keep the eyes on - but the moment Sreesanth caught Misbah (of Joginder Sharma); the entire country stood up, clapped, whistled, danced, shouted, hugged and even cried in joy. Within moments of triumph, the blistering sound of crackers with foot tapping dance on beats of dhols were seen, heard and felt all around.
Oh my God! What an excitement! What a joy! What a cheer & thumps up for Team India! What a body swirling & mind boggling experience! What a day and moment it was! Superb, Splendid, Amazing, Marvellous, Spectacular, Magnificent, Incredible, Unbelievable.....the list is endless. The joy was here, the joy was there, truly, the joy was everywhere.
India has always been a cricket maniac & cricket crazy nation. This is one sport, which we have supported and cheered-for right from our hearts. But, sadly, in last few years it was gradually loosing its real shine and sheen. A combination of factors - the poor performance of Indian cricket team, repeated coach controversies, instances of match fixing and to top it all the worst performance in 2007 World Cup - had left many hearts broken and distracted many fans and followers from the game.
But this Twenty-Twenty World Cup came as a blessing in disguise for the sport as well as for Team India. India's splendid & consistent performance (not only in finals) rebuilt the cricket fever and craze in us. Pre match excitement, post match ball-by-by analysis, after lunch discussions, groups talking about cricket, a paanwala showing off his TV to a bunch of shouting spectators, excited lots discussing shots and dots - it all came back during this tournament. Mind you; post world cup debacle Team India was an underdog and not favourite of many. The media hype hula was clearly missing but as the tournament was progressing - consistent team performance & astounding matches kept on building the right blocks.
For days we will talk about every shot, every ball, every hit, every miss, every twist, every turn, the winning moment rather every moment of this historical match. It was a long awaited refreshing victory for India. Heartiest thanks to Team India - for their outstanding effort, for their splendid show, for their amazing performance, for giving those lovely & ever memorable moments to us, and for bringing back the hint of cricket excitement & joy in every Indian. Such mein, Chak Diya India!
(The author is a Chartered Accountant based in Delhi. The views expressed herein are his own)
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This is absolute bhakwas, yesterday's match was fixed as it was evident from the bodylanguage of both the Indian's and the OZ's during the match.This was done in order to increase / at least to maintain the cash register rolling for the next games.I am not surprised if the OZ's lose again to maintain that,but after that you can see them bounce back and crush the Indian's like the roller.So don't give much importance to the so called victory of India Vs AUS. ...Reply
This is absolute bhakwas, yesterday's match was fixed as it was evident from the bodylanguage of both the Indian's and the OZ's during the match.This was done in order to increase / at least to maintain the cash register rolling for the next games.I am not surprised if the OZ's lose again to maintain that,but after that you can see them bounce back and crush the Indian's like the roller.So don't give much importance to the so called victory of India Vs AUS. ...Reply
gud articel ! but why didnt you forget to write an article about anand (chess champion). ...Reply
It is nice that we are the 1st T20 World Champions and that too beating a team like Australia. Atleast cricket instills some patriotism in us as Indians, at a time when we failed to change our History books that still teach the British version - 1857 Sepoy Mutiny rather than India's 1st War of Independence? It is bewildering that we as a nation get into a frenzy when it comes to cricket, this eclipses those few distinguished Indians who have made the country proud in other sports. Government's tilt is understandable, since half of our polity is associated with the game. Even sometime in the recent past, our distinguished parliamentarians chose to play cricket rather than our national game. 60 years of independence falls short to wipe the nostalgia of Raj and two centuries of ingrained slavery. ...Reply
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