Team India Crowned World Champions!

Finally in the Grand Finale Team India played truly to its potential and won the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 in great style! The Team scoffed at the idea of depending on one or two stalwarts and blazed away to an astounding victory celebrations for which do not seem to end and justifiably so. After 28 years, first team in world cup history to win it as hosts, first team to win chasing in excess of 250 runs and on! Captain Cool also known as the Great Gambler showed why he is indeed the best Indian Captain of all times. Mahendra Singh Dhoni made a masterstroke by promoting himself ahead of Yuvraj and finally delivered with the bat with such determination to win and such obsession that the World Cup had to come running for his country and of course for the living legend Sachin Tendulkar. Forget his decisions or gambling now, his disarming smile and humbleness make the win more memorable.

Superb fielding and terrific bowling by Zaheer Khan in particular never allowed Sri Lanka to run away for a 300 plus total. Thanks to a brilliant century by Mahela Jaywardene and 63 runs in the last five batting powerplay overs Sri Lanka reached 274 which seemed to worry a lot of Indian supporters and which was accepted by Sri Lanka as the invincible platform for their second title. The potential Indian batting strength was just conveniently forgotten. 

To make matters more worrying India lost Sehwag in the second ball of the innings in similar fashion as in the Pak encounter. Sachin showed with a few blazing shots that he was there to stay. But he also went for 18 with a reeling total at 31 for 2. Gautam Gambhir though had different designs and a sound strategy against Murlidharan in particular who was never allowed to settle down to his intensity. With able support from Virat Kohli Gambhir laid the foundation for victory and then Kohli went at 114 for 3, still a fifty-fifty situation. In came the Captain and proceeded with ruthless precision, absolute power and spectacular brilliance. Gambhir threw his wicket with just three run short of what would have been a unforgettable century. He still deserved the Man of the Match award, but Dhoni’s determined and brilliant effort of 91 not out sealed it in his favor.

With Yuvraj Captain Cool clinically completed Mission World Cup 2011 and brought home at home the second glorious honors by dispatching the second ball of the penultimate over to a roaring six. And history was made at the Wankhede stadium, Mumbai.

A sweet revenge for the incredibly cruel defeat in the semi final of WC 1996 at Kolkata by the Sri Lankans. Sweeter, because Team India refused to fall prey to the suffocating bowling tactics of Sri Lanka as has been the trend over the years in sluggish conditions.  Sri Lanka celebrated the fall of Tendulkar like in WC Football match and maybe took it as the final step towards victory. But Indian batting in full flow is capable of conquering all opposition of the world. 

 

What a match! What a victory! Just continue celebrating! 

Action Mumbai! ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 Final!

The situation seems to be a little funny! Though the news channels are doing everything—talking discussing analyzing forecasting and expertizing the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 Final to be played in Mumbai tomorrow between India and Sri Lanka—almost all the time the efforts do not appear to be enough! This is because the Indo-Pak Mohali encounter was hyped so very magnanimously that nothing seems to be enough to justify the Final! The India-Sri Lanka Final appears to be low-key. What do you learn from this? That you should not overdo anything so that you fail to match it later on! Now, if India emerges as the World Cup 2011 Champions the media will have to build it up more on the Pak encounter rather than on the Final!

Experts including a disappointed Imran Khan advised all just to enjoy the Final! Both are excellent teams and Sri Lankan skipper Sangakkara admitted India to be favorites to imply that SL is not under pressure. India being favorites and playing at home will have to bear all the pressure! Cool Dhoni gloated over the opportunity to play in the subcontinent and before home crowds. Kapil Dev described Dhoni as the gambler who likes to take his own decisions.

So, we will be much better off tomorrow if we decide just to watch and enjoy and not take tension about who would win or lose. Of course, as Indians we would definitely like Team India to be the Champions which for me should eventually happen due to three basic reasons—first, Indian batting is much more stronger than SL and that India beat them in recent times without the services of several stalwarts; second, Indian bowling and fielding have come good in the knockout stage and three, SL is not really tested under pressure so far in the tournament and that they have won easily in the knockout stage staying at home.

We will wish Dhoni all the luck and not bother about what decisions he finally takes tomorrow. Media is already into a debate about who will be the 11^th player in Team India—Ashwin or Pathan or even Sreesanth! Nehra’s injury might have saved Dhoni  from a dilemma because Nehra bowled well at Mohali. For Gods sake, leave it to the Indian skipper and relax sit back and enjoy! The best team tomorrow will definitely win!

Local holiday declared for Mumbai, unprecedented three tier security system in place for the renovated Wankhede Stadium, only ticket holders are advised to come to the venue which in effect means just 4000 available for common viewers apart from VVIPs, VIPs that make up to a total capacity of 32,000, weather is so far fine not being that hot and the Saturday fever is just catching on!

Enjoy and cheer you team to victory!

Mohali—Epic Saga of Pressure Chances and Surprises!

A typical India-Pakistan encounter with the teams not performing to their true potential, but very true to the pressure and nerves. Eternal rivals meeting in a rare face-to-face apart, it was also a World Cup semi final which is normally tougher than the Final and watched by two Prime Ministers taking cricket to the noble goal of achieving lasting friendship between the two countries. There were pleasant surprises all around—Indian and Pakistani fans watching and cheering their teams sitting together, sweet friendly smiles and chats between the rival players on field, slogans around the stadium announcing ‘India and Pakistan are friends forever’ and so on.

India won the toss and there was the shocker nobody on earth expected. Ashwin was replaced by an out-of-sorts Nehra who was condemned for his last disastrous over against South Africa. But the real point of debate was ‘how you dare changing a winning combination against the Champions Australia’! It defied all logic! It had been evident that all pitches in this tournament behaved almost the same way—becoming slower and the ball not coming on to the bat as the ball gets older. Dhoni who learnt the hard way to include Ashwin and Raina committed a mistake again which could have haunted him all his life.

True to their batting strength India started in a whirlwind fashion with Sehwag going great guns, but Pakistan true to their strength bowled superbly. The greatest batsman of the world had to struggle making his shots. And, true to their unpredictability Pakistan fielded like school boys dropping catches and converting singles into fours all around apart from dropping the master four times making Afridi agonized both as the skipper and as a bowler. Surprises here again—most consistent Umar Gul throughout this world cup failed miserably in all his spells and the cricket experts and commentators shouting for a 300 plus total even after seeing how the pitch behaved. Thanks to the excellent spells by young Wahab Riaz and the spinners India were finally restricted to 260 for 9. Only Sunil Gavaskar said, in a WC semi final chasing a total of over or at least 250 was not going to be easy at all and that too involving India and Pakistan.

And for a change India bowled superbly and with tremendous discipline not allowing an extra till the 37^th over supported by keen fielding. Nehra too bowled passionately rescuing Dhoni from possible embarrassment. It was such a complete effort that only five bowlers were used and they all shared two wickets each!

Pakistan seemed to be cruising at one stage in spite of the bowling effort and slowing pitch, but then their batting surprises started surfacing. Confident Hafeez committed harakiri trying a weird shot, main batsman Younus Khan who did not field well too earlier failed miserably. And Misbah was the greatest mystery of missed opportunities! He progressed at an inexplicable sluggish rate hardly trying to be aggressive. He allowed the run rate keep on mounting. As the last man standing Misbah finally played his huge hits in the last two overs and that was outrageously too late. The biggest surprise of all—why the batting powerplay  was not taken when Razzak joined Misbah and even when the skipper Afridi himself joined the mystery at a more crucial juncture where a few lusty hits could have made the match go either way.

Pakistani fans are hugely disappointed no doubt, but they are accepting it in the true spirit of the game and friendship. But Pakistani team cannot escape answering such basic questions. Another puzzle for me, why Afridi is trying to be only a bowler and coming at no. 8? Nobody could ever forget what he did as a devastating batsman in many  memorable matches. Pakistan need him desperately as a batsman too.

Meantime huge celebrations are going on all over India! It was a Diwali night last night here in Mumbai. Team India is coming to Mumbai to play the Final against Sri Lanka on Saturday, April 2, 2011. Sri Lanka defeated a fighting New Zealand in the first semi final in Colombo on Tuesday. Both teams are making their third appearances in world cup finals and whoever win it will be their second Cup.

Security is a bigger concern in Mumbai and unprecedented arrangements are being made. We are sure, cricket will defeat terror most convincingly. Cheers!