This heady feeling called success. Review on ICC Cricket World Cup 2011

Today’s morning newspaper gladdened my heart even more than Saturday’s monumental victory.My respect for  M S Dhoni grew even more. This is because he was prompt to share the credit for his success with recently retired stalwarts Ganguly, Kumble, Dravid and the eternal divine presence Sachin.I think he missed out on one name in the form of VVS but that’s ok, we all know how he feels about the special Hyderabadi. In Indian Cricket’s finest hour, it was very gracious of the skipper to acknowledge the immense contributions of the gentlemen who had ushered in the era of self-belief and supremacy of Indian Cricket.

Many questions have been answered convincingly in this world cup.

Is the Aussie domination finally over?-yes without a doubt.India and South Africa had signalled it long before.But after this, they are well and truly into the redevelopement era which I hope doesn't take as long as it has taken for the Carribeans.

Is the future of 50 over cricket in doldrums?-no, not at all, provided the cricket calendar gets tweaked a bit to allow all the 3 forms enough space.I know it's easier said than done but hey, the executives at ICC's Dubai office should not take fat paychecks just to roam around the world like tourists.

Is the UDRS useful?.200% yes.All the time, the arguments were thrown against the inception of this system showing ridiculous reasons like conserving the romaticism of the game, I would cringe in disbelief at the apparent lack of common-sense of these people.India should also share the blame here.But post World cup I am sure this is become as integral to international cricket as the third umpire became in the early nineties.

What about the minnows?.Although Ireland was the posterboy for minnows and to some extent Netherlands also held their flag aloft, the other nations like Canada, Kenya and even Zimbabwe put up a dismal show.Yet they deserve a place here.We shouldn't forget that Bangladesh and even Srilanka were minnows in not so distant past.I am sure if the scheduling of the league matches had been a bit better, then this question would have never raised it's head so much.After all, if you have a Kenya-Canada game as the only tie on a Saturday of the second week of the Cricket world cup, you are forgiven to feel a little disgusted.

This world cup has been a resounding success and not just because we won it, to the eternal disbelief of the rest of the grudging cricketing world, some of whom might be forgiven to think of it as another BCCI conspiracy(80% of the global cricket revenues, IPL, World number one in tests and now this, just looks a little unbelievable at times, how everything has fallen into place so beautifully), but because it has provided many memorable events.

Starting with the devastating Sehwag innings in the opener(where he made his point to his critics who questioned his ability for a long innings in ODIs, but then gave the same critics enough fodder with his performances in all the other matches), The India-England tie(Strauss’ Innings was a real highlight), Ireland’s overhauling of a huge English total(Even the mighty Viv Richards would have been proud of that Kevin O brien Innings), Bangladesh’s see-saw performance in front of their vociferous crowds(2 below hundred scores along with a superb fightback against India and a nail biting win against England), Ross Taylor’s brute of an Innings against Pakistan(100 runs in 6 overs, are u kidding me?, Shoaib Akhtar would have forgotten what happened to him at Centurion), Everything about England in the group stages(they lit up the otherwise dull league stages with their absolutely unpredictable performances), A humbled Ponting(a far cry from his usual cocky self) at the hands of India, The kiwis springing up the surprise of the tournament sending the Proteas into 4 more years of painful self pondering about thedreadful ‘C’ word, everything, absolutely everything about the Indo-Pak match(phew, it was relief more than anything else not to have lost that match although we were generously helped by the butter finger Pakistani fielders who as the great Siddhu said were “Allergic to leather”) and finally a final which was worthy of being a final(The Jayawardene Innings, The Dhoni and Gambhir fightback).

There were some lows as well but they were highly outnumbered by the highs.This, being the exact opposite of what happened in the Carribean 4 years ago.

Finally a word about the victorius Indian team.This comes from a guy who has been watching cricket since 1990(from the age of 8), who has grown up fantasizing about that afternoon of 83 at Lords, whose teenage mind would go into depression at India’s numerous dismal performances in the nineties, who couldn’t control his emotions at that 2001 victory at the Eden(watched it ball by ball, as I did the one at Colombo where we got plundered by Jaysuriya and Co for 900 odd runs)who was heart broken at coming so close to achieving glory, yet faltering at the last hurdle in 2003, who cursed Sachin(will never forgive myself for this, I know I will rot in hell for this sin) after the 2007 debacle, who got hesitantly delighted at the 2007 20-20 success, thinking this might well be the closest we could ever come to achieving the real thing

What you have achieved is pure bliss.My life is fulfilled…………