Indian Cricket on a New High

Indian Cricket has come a long way. When "Kapil's Devils", as they came to called, lifted the coveted Prudential World Cup trophy at Lords, which was then considered the Mecca of World Cricket, many a cricket aficionado was tempted to dismiss it as a grand fluke. Even our team seemed half-embarassed, at that time, accepting the trophy, although they had achieved the impossible. Yes. They had beaten a team that was arguably the most potent cricketing outfit ever to walk onto the meadow, for a bout between bat and ball, in the annals of the gentleman's game.

However, 28 years later, this Indian team is not at all apologetic about its aspirations to dominate the cricketing world. And, in Mahendra Singh Dhoni, they have found a captain, who in Imran Khan's words, "is not just a captain, but a leader!". His innings in the World Cup final at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, was the best example of a leader leading from the front. It took courage to walk out to bat ahead of the in-form Yuvraj. It took courage to leave out Ravichandran Ashwin yet again, and opt for the mercurial Sreesanth. And, what an innings "captain cool" played. So much so that, it dwarfed the brilliant innings played by both Mahela Jayawardane and Gautam Gambhir, and, deservingly, earned him the Man of the Match award.

To think of it, while all of India wanted our team to lift the trophy and buck the trend of the host nation never winning the Cricket World Cup, there were many who did not give our boys in blue much of a realistic chance. They preferred to bet on Sri Lanka who were the runners-up last time around, or felt it would be South Africa this time, who would finally be able to shed the label of "chokers", which had stuck to them for so long. Some even considered New Zealand the dark horses, while others reminded all and sundry not to rule out Australia, even if they had not played their best cricket lately.

Earlier, cricket commentators had flayed the selectors for not having picked another wicket-keeper, just in case Dhoni got injured. Some of them bemoaned the fact that the Indian squad was one pacer short. While the tournament was well underway, the exclusion of Ashwin in the playing 11 also received plenty of flak, especially when we played on spinner-friendly tracks. And. when the Indian quickies, barring Zaheer, had not been very consistent, Ashwin's exclusion seemed even more indefensible. However, as they say, "all is well that ends well". Who will remember any of the doomsday predictions of any of these naysayers today? Who will remember the sombre post-mortems of nit-picking analysts of the game any more?

That's because nothing succeeds like success. Well done, India. You guys have done us all proud. There should not be any doubt in anyone's mind now, as to where the Mecca of World Cricket really is.