A WAIT WORTH ITS WEIGHT??

It was the 25^th day of  June 1983 that became a red-letter day in India’s sporting history. What had happened was that a bunch of confident Indian players led by a resilient Kapil Dev had marched out onto the Mecca of Cricket & done what till few years back any one would have declared as unthinkable. The Indian team had outplayed the then world dominators West Indies & had thus earned a name for itself in Cricket’s book of glory.

 It wasn’t an impulsive outburst, but a string of good performances put up by every team member & the will to win attitude of their skipper that they managed to scale the heights of achievement.

28 years down the line as the oldest civilization in the world prepares itself to play host to the grandest stage of cricket, the home team finds itself with a near perfect opportunity to repeat the near 3-decade old feat.

In this span of 28 years, the Indian team has had its fair share of different experiences. Ups & downs, In & Outs, Glory & Shame.

While the team at times produced some memorable performances, it also had to stare into embarrassment with some shock defeats on several occasions. But that is all a part of the game. After all, it’s the nature’s law that everything evens out by the end of the day. While some players became highly respected public figures & made us feel proud, some became a matter of shame for us & that unfortunately had nothing to do with the nature’s law as the men themselves were responsible for the path they chose.

And during this time frame, we also experienced a serious change in the attitude of our players that was needed so much to beat the best in the game both at home & abroad.

All in All these 28 years have been a mixed bag of emotions for this cricket loving nation where the game itself is seen as a religion & the Genius Sachin Tendulkar is worshipped as God.

In this time frame 6 chances came & 6 chances fell by the wayside, although the team under Sourav Ganguly came agonizingly close to bringing the glory home in the rainbow nation in the 2003 edition, yet it was still an opportunity missed nonetheless. But never has the stage looked more set than this time around. From Sourav Ganguly to Mahendra Sigh Dhoni, this is a team that has taken shape over the last decade. This is a team that has been literally through hell, fire & storm. This is a team that has some serious fighters willing to take the fight to the opposition till the end. This is a team consisting of game-changers. This is a team that has a captain who has the ability to stay cool even in the tightest of situations. This is a team that consists of a genius who has openly expressed his eagerness to win the World Cup for his country. This is a team that will set its foot into the tournament in its own backyard. And yes, this is a team that will have the support of a billion people who would be rooting for the team from start to finish.

Did we miss out on something?? Oh!! Yes!!!! The Genius of the game Sachin Tendulkar is closing on his 50^th ODI ton. With 9 matches needed to be played to get to the Cup Of Glory & the fact that the master always brings out his best on the biggest stage, there is every possibility that we might see history being created by a man for whom creating history is like just another day at the office. This edition of the World Cup has every potential to become a story that can beat the best of Hollywood Scripts on any given day. We look upto Sachin as the God of Cricket. May be his God has planned something big for him for which India & its cricketing fans have had to wait this long.

And who knows, this wait, might just be worth its weight!! :-)

            CHEERS FOLKS!!