Sep 27, 2002 05:36 PM
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(Updated Sep 27, 2002 05:42 PM)
What do you say about a team that has gone from world class under achievers to world-beaters in the span of a couple months (you just have to love these guys. hehe). How on earth did this happen is what most people have to be asking each other. How did we suddenly get to being one of the two best teams playing One Day cricket (according to me, of course) today and major candidates to win the World Cup.
Who’s responsible
This entire phenomenon started out a couple of months back in England and it was according to me due to a single move which drew a lot of flak, more than it deserved actually, no its not that of making Sehwag open, it’s the brave move by Rahul Dravid to take the task of keeping wickets on his shoulders and he’s done a commendable job at it. A lot of things have been said about the young brigade being responsible for causing some sort of a revolution in the Indian team, but I have to say that were it not for Dravid, Kaif would not have played in that memorable final against England where he and Yuvraj were responsible in getting India a memorable win.
But lets not take away anything from the Young Guns of our team namely Yuvraj, Kaif, Sehwag, Harbhajan (don’t think I’d forget him) and Zaheer. These fellows have made the team revolve around themselves and given their seniors a long deserved rest (especially Sachin). They have been central in the victories that have shaken the cricketing world.
There’s one man who should not be forgotten and that’s the captain Saurav Ganguly, he’s had a love-hate relation with the media and the fans, but he’s withstood all the criticism and supported all his teammates. Somehow whenever India wins it’s the team and when we lose its poor captaincy (NOT FAIR!!!). I don’t love him (that’s a place reserved only for Sachin) but I will give him credit for all he’s done. Hats off to you Saurav. He's led the Indian team to some of it's greatest victories in the last couple of months including the Finals in England, the incredible turn around in the test series against England, and of course the brilliant performance against South Africa in the ICC Champions Trophy.
The Future
World Cup 2003 is just around the corner and for once we’ve got the core of the team ready well before the tournament has started. Only one discrepancy has to be corrected and that’s finding an able supporting bowler for Zaheer. Both Nehra and Agarkar are too temperamental.
But I’d like to caution all the fans of the Indian cricket team; they are champions at building up the hopes of their fans like all Indian teams. Remember the duo of Bhupati and Paes in the Olympics or the Indian Hockey Team prior to the same Olympics both had done exceedingly well building up to the event but failed miserably once there. Lets hope this is not a repeat along the same lines, but rather only the fringe of the storm and that many more feats along the lines of the Finals in England or the incredible victory in the semi’s against South Africa will be done by our favorite team in the months to come.
Here’s to a possible victory for the Indian Team in World Cup 2003.
