India Wins the Cup

“We are the Champions”. “We rule the world”. The intense feeling of pride, jubilation, emotional outbursts around the euphoric victory in the world cup 2011 has proved to the world that India has arrived. In a country of 1.21 billion, more than 80% people follow a religion called “Cricket” and worship the God in one of his forms called “Sachin”. “Men in Blue” has proved to the world that they are the best in any form of the game and indeed they “Bleed Blue” (Campaign started by Nike”.

 

The journey to the cup was not so cozy and hence the emotional rush was high amid criticism and support from the largest democracy in the world. The entire nation goes crazy over the win and celebrations on the streets of India has been amazing. Dhoni & men gives us every chance to celebrate, go crazy and party for many more days to come. The victory over Australia in the quarter-finals proved to the world, that we are inching towards victory on the D-Day. Taking the arch rivals Pakistan after a long gap and crushing them in the semis left Rameez Raja falling short of words from his ever gabbing attitude. The pulsating environment created in all the three important matches India played was cheered ball by ball by the frenzied cricket maniacs around the world. India’s rise to the ranks of world number 1 cricketing nation could only be attributed to the Mr. Cool captain, MS Dhoni. Having watched Dhoni playing for railways at local MECON grounds in Ranchi, and on the D-Day proved only his determined idiosyncrasy towards achievement of the goal.

In the high-profile match watched by the heads of nations, bureaucrats, Bollywood and ever cheering crowd, the entire moment was cherished, and would remain to be so, by every Indian for many more years to come. The jubilation on streets around the country was ecstatic, people went frantic and a sea of flags, cars, and unabated dancing lingered till morning. Being part of the frantic crowd kept the adrenaline rush within me tight, my heart pumped to be proud of my nation. The slogan went from “Vande Matram” to “2011 hai, World Cup Humara hai” (It’s 2011 and the world cup is ours).

 

As the new channels cheer each moment of our victory, entire India feels the bond through the game, which is very popular in every nook and corner of the country. The evolution of Indian cricket has been phenomenal. India brings the cup home after 28 long years, but the waiting has been very sweet. The team does it for their own Sachin Tendulkar, and makes us proud. The no.1 team in the world has proved its mettle and takes on a new journey as Champions. I wish Indian team many more successes which provides us plethora of opportunity to be proud.

Cheers to Indian cricketing success

 

 

ICC World Cup 2011:Musings

Last one month kept me away from my favorite work of reaching to the readers of my blog. It has been quiet a hectic schedule but I am happy to manage my time and be back on track. With the world cup fun all around and people glued to the idiot box, we Indians prefer to catch the glimpse of each match through any form of media available to us these days. Of course, new channels of information like twitter, Facebook has overrun traditional forms, and people in urban centers prefer to belong to the so-called trends of new age media catching glimpse of news on twitter, Facebook etc. It is mindful that off late traditional media have been keen on analyzing cricket frenzied reactions over these channels.

As the schedule of World cup unfolds, teams from around the world are once again ready to battle out the odds and prove their mettle. Australian team, as always seems to be the invincible, the English team seems to have lost its luster having lost couple of matches to the minnows of the cricketing world (viz. Ireland & Bangladesh). The minnows seems to have gone berserk to prove to their fans, don’t underestimate my capability anymore, you call me minnow…………….Minnows who? You got me wrong again sweetheart. Team Pakistan seemed to be going well until they loss against New Zealand. Rameez Raja goes frantic for this but couldn’t help the situation. The Lankans have gone lackluster and the energy always seems to be missing with the team minus Jayasurya. The Caribbean’s are heavily dependent on Pollard (the disaster, of course for opponents) and Kiwis have gained from Allan Donald’s experience in the bowling department. None the less, the host and home favorites are Indian team, trying to re-store its lost glory in the last two world cup encounters. Team India had a brilliant one-sided start against Bangladesh, but the tempo seems to be subsiding with each battle in progress. South Africa, appears to have joined the typical herd mentality of “Chalta hai” (Let it be) and seems unprepared for the world cup.

Amid the entire hullabaloo, we cricket frenzied people are glued to the idiot box in the comfort of our homes and plush offices. I poured in one of the leading business newspapers in India that some of the leading brands have preferred to advertise during IPL over ICC World cup, the logic majorly refers to preferences of the women folks to IPL. As the cricket drama unfolds once again in the country, many players surreptitiously have started dreaming for the IPL matches which usher in more fun, money and are cool with their young and trendy attitude.

As the cricketing drama unfolds, I wish let the best team win, but being an Indian, I would always put my vote for Dhoni and boys. The theme to cheer India for every match as it displays on TV, I am pushed to think over the punch line “Teams only win matches, when you cheer for them”.  Let the cricketing drama unfold and make it ever exciting experience for all the cricketing fans around the world.

Cheers to favorites this world cup. Team India go…go…go….