Is this India's brightest chance to win the Cricket World Cup 2011?
Is this India's brightest chance to win the Cricket World Cup 2011
?
It was around 28 years ago when an Indian team, rank outsiders at that point, under the capable leadership of the great Kapil Dev last won the World Cup for India by creating an upset by beating the mighty West Indies by 43 runs. That memory is very distant to me since at that point I was an infant and not even in my full senses, trying to come to terms with this world.
But ever since I have got the senses and starting getting crazy about this game of cricket and following the Indian team closely, I have always dreamed of watching an Indian team lift the World Cup in front of my own eyes. Not only would I, every Indian definitely love an Indian team lifting the World Cup.
In a country, where cricket is more than a religion, an Indian team not winning the World Cup for 28 years is a pretty long time. There have been times when they have come close to winning this, but every time has seemed to stop at the very last hurdle. They came close in 1996, reaching the semi finals, riding on the genius of Sachin Tendulkar. But in the semis against Sri Lanka, just when it looked that another Sachin Tendulkar special would take them to the finals and help them lift the cup, they faltered at the famous Eden Gardens. Sri Lanka went on to win the Cup, but a billion Indian hearts were broken that day.
At the 1999 World Cup held in England, under the captaincy of Mohammed Azharuddin, they did not do well despite having players of the calibre of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid in their ranks. They could not even reach the semi finals and bowed out rather tamely.
Then at the 2003 World Cup held in South Africa, after starting poorly against Australia, who was the in-form team at that moment, they rose above themselves to reach the finals of the World Cup under the inspirational captaincy of Sourav Ganguly. Everything was going for them, their bowling clicking brilliantly as a unit, their batting no longer solely dependent on Sachin Tendulkar, everything was looking up. But, then again, at the very last moment, as destiny would have it, they succumbed to their own demons and to the pressure of winning the World Cup. In the final against Australia, after winning the toss, Sourav Ganguly strangely decided to bowl first in a pressure cooker scenario. A World Cup final, toss already won, when putting runs on the board is always better than chasing a huge total, what could have lead Sourav Ganguly to take that decision? Perhaps the fear of losing to them in the group stages after batting first got to him really badly. But the damage was done, Ricky Ponting was at his rampant best and led Australia to a huge score of 359 for 2 in 50 overs and from that point, there was no escape. Australia won the final by 125 runs, and the billion of Indian fans, who were looking for an Indian victory, were disappointed once again. The 2007 World Cup held in West Indies was a huge disappointment as the Indian team crashed in the group stage itself after being beaten soundly by Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Now let's analyze the current scenario. The 2011 World Cup is on. The Indian team is on a high after beating defending champions Australia in the quarter finals. They will lock swords in the semi finals against Pakistan, to whom they have not lost a single World Cup match in the past. They might meet New Zealand or Sri Lanka in the final whom they have beaten many time in the past. And they will be having the crowd support in the final in Mumbai in case they reach there. Is this their best chance? Will they be third time lucky? Will this team win it for Sachin Tendulkar who is into his 6th and most probably last World Cup? Their batting is looking ominous with the exception of MS Dhoni and is no longer dependant on Sachin Tendulkar alone, their bowling and fielding looked sharp in the quarterfinal match against Australia. Yuvraj Singh is in the form of his life, chipping in with both bat and ball and winning 4 man of the match awards. Zaheer Khan is looking brilliant as ever. Harbhajan might not have picked up wickets, but one cannot count him out of action at any point. Sachin Tendulkar, Sehwag, Ashwin, Raina, Gambhir and Kohli have all played a role in India reaching this stage. After an indifferent performance in the group stages where they were beaten by South Africa and tied with England, they seem to be peaking at just the right time. Will they be able to reach the mountain peak this time round? The law of averages seems to say so. Reaching the semis of the 1996 World Cup, and then coming up as runners up in the 2003 edition, the law of averages seems to point towards an Indian hurrah this time round at the 2011 World Cup. Will it happen or not, only time will tell and that time is only a week away from now. Hopefully, this Indian team satisfies the dream of its billion of fans of lifting the World Cup after a gap of 28 years. It is now or never for them. "DO IT BEFORE YOU DIE", should be the team's mantra.
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