A sleepless night in India / When Diwali is celebrated in April :-)
It was the moment around 1.2 billion people across the country waiting for generations (28 years to be precisely). And MS Dhoni’s team touched that around ‘11sh on Saturday night of 2nd April 2011. I can’t resist myself to express why this victory is so memorable, and out of the world for every Indian, even though we won the ODI Cricket World Cup in 1983, and T-20 Cricket World Cup in 2007.
Well in early 80’s, when I was a kid, Cricket by then also was followed as a religion by 60+ billion Indians. However Cricket was mostly heard on the radio, the media ‘coverage’ (forget about the hype) was extremely low and grossly limited to regional print versions of the News Papers. I wasn’t a big fan of cricket but already had developed a great interest for the game then. India was amongst the ‘also ran’ nations during the ODI Cricket World Cups in 1975 and 1979. In 1983, during the Prudential World Cup in England, India was still considered to be a minnow and no one was fancying India to be getting even into Quarter Finals, as we have won just 1 match during the earlier 2 World Cups. Essentially there was absolutely no pressure on Kapil Dev and company. The matches were not telecasted on 'Doordarshan' (DD was the only available channel then) in India. However I still remember it, faintly though, on 25th June, DD announced to air the telecast LIVE. It was an extended summer for us as my cousins were vacationing with us in Pune. All of them at home have already made plans to visit another relative that night to attend a family function. However I was very keen on watching the match LIVE on TV, and made my Dad stay at home along with me. I never was, up until 1.30 AM in the morning, prior that night. But it was worth it, India won the match against all odds and we got the reason to celebrate the pseudo-religion for number of years later. But I don’t remember huge celebrations taking place that night in Pune (not in the neighborhood at least). We eventually won the Benson & Hedges ODI world cup down-under in 1985, while Ravi Shastri got us acquainted with the ‘4 interlaced ringed’ automotive emblem (read ‘Audi’) being the Champion of Champions.
But, but, but, there was a huge gap afterwards. We essentially could not sustain the high pressure games typically in the ODI Cricket World Cups. 1987, the tournament even being in India, we couldn’t prove to be the reigning world champions. 1992 was not memorable down-under. 1996, again the tournament was India, however got ruined because of the frustrated / rioting crowd, and the semi-final match was awarded to Sri Lanka. 1999, the only savior was Sachin Tendulkar’s brave century, a tribute to his father when Sachin traveled back to England after performing the last rites of his father in India. 2003 was the closest we could get to the Cup, but brutally defeated by the OZs in the final. We had a fantastic run during the tournament and Sachin’s 98 against Pakistan on 1st March 2003 was a treat for the cricket lovers. 2007 was a disaster, when for the first time after 1983, the team had to pack the bags, even before fully opening those, leading to a quick exit in the league round.
But at the same time something was happening in the background and we already must have got injected something to turn the color of our blood Blue:-). We won the first ever T-20 World cup in 2007, after making a complete overhaul of the Indian Cricket team. And from that day onwards, some 1 Billion people in this cricket-fanatic nation (and millions of NRIs oversees) started dreaming about winning the 2011 ODI Cricket World CUP. I guess this is a sole reason which makes this victory a lot special than any other tournament / event, we won till this date. There was a huge pressure both on and off the field for the team - We already have had our not so great luck with the foreign coaches, team has been getting revamped, senior players were either retiring or not being considered for their non-competitive performances, and so and so forth. On top of all this, there was immense pressure being built by the press and the TV channels. But Gary Kirsten, and M.S. Dhoni and his team ensured that they are not letting it go this time. 2011 World Cup wasn’t an easy one, even if it was played on the Indian soil. We couldn’t win any match single-sidedly (barring the 1st one with Bangladesh). We had to play against most of the favorites for the Cup, and we played well against all. Most emphatically, making OZs surrender their ego in QFs, defeating arch-rival Pakistan in Semis, and beating Sri Lanka convincingly (Almost :-)) in the finals. And at the same time, the body language /mindset of the Indian players was more than professional, very humble, very passionate and definitely not of snatching the title from someone (like their predecessors). If anyone has to experience the journey of 4 long years in split seconds, they have to ‘read’ Doni’s eyes which were following the trajectory of the cricket ball he ‘helicoptered’ out of the ground to touch the finishing line in the 48th over of the match.
Well reams of papers and terabytes of electronic coverage would be savored here-onwards on this victory. I guess the kind of moment we lived on Saturday 2nd April was somewhat equivalent to the victory at Kargil. At least this generation, probably have not seen anything big compared to that. I guess folks in many developed nations may not be able to understand the big deal around this win (Country as big as this and not able to shine at most of the sporting events is the reality :(). But for every Indian, I believe, it’s a moment to cherish for a long long time.
And an aftermath of this win, even if I’m not an economist (not even remotely) or anything like that, I guess there’s going to be an upswing in the Sensex, the whole India would be on a buying spree, there would be huge spending on white goods, eateries and the cricket merchandise (IPL) for next few months. Even not so deserving Bollywood movies like F.A.L.T.U would definitely gain huge revenues due the long weekend and the sheer mindset of people, which otherwise could have been a flop. This win definitely would become a huge money spinner, across industries, and giving a big boost to the IPL 4, which otherwise was in news for not so good reasons.
MS the cool, Sachin the demigod, and Yuvi who used be utterly flamboyant, but recently turned Mr. Dependable, will remain in our hearts forever and very soon we will stop bleeding in blue, but would start smiling in blue, as it’s going to be a much regular affair for India Incorporate, and not just limited to the 22 yard game. To sum it up, for .IN the Party has just begun :-)
