Blues felt so good!

I wrote this article dedicating India's victory in World Cup 2011.

It takes ages for a cricketer just to have the feel of a World Cup Trophy. It took 21 long years for the greatest of all, Sachin Tendulkar to touch the trophy. His perseverance paid off on 2nd April 2011 when the ‘Men in Blue’ defied all odds and chased the highest ever target in a World Cup Final to be crowned as the World Champions.

The whole nation broke all decibel levels when the ‘uber cool’ Mahendra Singh Dhoni smashed a six to clinch the trophy in style. We have seen dreams being shattered every four years since 1983 win, where one way or the other team India was eliminated out of the World Cups. But this edition of World Cup changed the story.

After facing the ignominy in the initial stages of this World Cup for fielding and bowling departments, the whole team clicked pretty well during the crunch games. The team never showcased such a killer instinct before that was evident during the matches against Australia and Pakistan. The same approach continued in the final and rest is history!

The highlights of this World Cup for team India were the heartening performances from Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Zaheer Khan; the all round performances from the Man of the Series Yuvraj Singh, his sprinting and diving at point; Raina’s quick reflexes at covers; Kohli’s brilliant fielding at extra cover; disciplined bowling from Munaf, Nehra and Ashwin; and last but not the least – the calm and ever composed captaincy by Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

This World Cup win also brought an ideal farewell for the coach Gary Kirsten. His contribution to Indian cricket in last three years has been extraordinary as the team has scaled new heights. Not to forget team India is not only the One Day Cricket World Champions but also world’s number 1 Test team.

Victory in this World Cup was absolutely not a ‘walk in the park’. It was an arduous task to keep the team performing successfully in all forms of this game in the last two years and also to manage the expectations of billions of Indian cricket fans. This is just the beginning of another success story. The blues felt so good on 2nd April 2011, an unforgettable day in the history of Indian cricket. Absolutely spellbinding!