My Top 10 World Cup 2011 Magical Moments - India

Its been almost 4 days now...Thanks to the repeat telecasts, media frenzy, interviews and otherwise, the moment which has since been etched in the Indian cricket folklore is somehow still fresh in my mind. And heart too...Am sure same is the case with the Indian cricket fan! Having taken the following Monday off while watching TV I kept going back to the repeat telecasts and the interviews to soak up the achievement! And then unlike the 'live' telecast there was no anxiousness as I knew the outcome!!! As I recollected Team India's performance from match day 1 ten moments stood out. Ones which will stand out as My Top 10 World Cup 2011 Magical Moments - India.

1. Sachin Tendulkar 6th time lucky - Being carried around the field

As India won the World Cup if I recollect correctly Harsha Bhogle said 'His resume is complete!'. Sachin 'God' Tendulkar, the face of Indian cricket for over 2 decades with innumerable records to his name. Like every other fan of my generation have watched him right from his first series in Pakistan way back in 1989. His highs...his lows...His milestones...his match winning performances...Today 22 years later after finally making the summit he was full of emotions...joy & relief. But mind you he was not a bystander. Opening the innings in all the 9 matches he just missed out on being the highest scorer in this edition of the World Cup!

2. MSDhoni lifting the Cup (that counts)

If not for Sachin this of course would be topping my list. What a man, what a captain. There has been enough spoken and written about him already. For me its a great story of focus, performance and marshaling of your resources to achieve the ultimate objective.

3. MSDhoni's Six

11 balls left, 4 runs to win. A fullish delivery by Kulasekara and Dhoni smacked it over long on for a Six starting the celebrations across the World!

4. Yuvraj Singh - Man of the Tournament

Not one for a series of consistent performances leading to him receiving the coveted prize. He was there taking catches, getting wickets, saving runs, scoring runs...barring the semi final in almost every match. But for me the best was the 5 wicket haul against Ireland and his gesture celebrating the same.

5. Zaheer Khan - 3 maidens in a row: Finals

What made it even special is the fact that it was the same 'Zak' as he is popularly known who had bowled a string of wides and no balls to give 15 runs in his first over in the final of the 2003 edition. Though he went for a few runs later on the match he did take 2 wickets to take his tally to 21 scalps for the tournament - a joint first!

6. India vs Pakistan in World Cups 6-0

Each time they meet emotions run high. World Cup clashes are even worse. And then this was in the knock out stages at Mohali where Pakistan's record is much better than India's. Thanks to an overall performance India maintains a clean sheet!

7. Beating Australia in the QF

Well we have beaten a lot of times in the past in neutral venues, at home and in Australia. But this was sweet. In a way revenge of the 2003 loss. Billed as potentially the last match for two legends Sachin & Ponting at the World Cup stage, there was lot at stake. With half centuries from Sachin, Gambhir and Yuvi we did manage to win with 14 balls to spare!

8. Virat' Kohli's gesture

Going back to the celebrations after MSD scored the winning runs. Not many were aware till it was shared on the news channels that Virat Kohli quietly picket up one of the wickets and handed over to Sachin! He also carried Sachin through the victory lap. When asked pat came the reply, '' He (Sachin) has been carrying nation's burden for over two decades. Now it was our turn to carry him." Sweet!

9. Opening Match Sehwag: 175, Kohli: 100*

First match in the World Cup. Opponent: Bangladesh. A team capable of springing surprises. Has been the reason for India getting eliminated in the first round of 2007 edition. But as the match progressed witness a swashbuckling 175 from Sehwag. Was threatening Sachin's record for highest ODI score. Sadly missed out. Keeping him company and scoring a century on World Cup debut was Virat Kohli. What a talent for the future of Team India's cause.

10. Yusuf Pathan's unassuming sixes

An unsung hero as far as am concerned. A pinch hitter, an all rounder, a committed fielder. Favoured till the quarter finals till he was surprisingly dropped what I'll always remember are his towering sixes which brought a sense of relief and joy on every Indian fan's face especially the 3 sixes he hit against Ireland. So this is it. These are my top 10 magical moments. Moments which will be etched in my memory for my lifetime. Thank you Team India.

Photos Courtesy: http://www.espncricinfo.com/

28 year wait for the Cricket World Cup is over...finally

Like every other kid I grew up playing gully cricket with my younger brother and friends in the neighbourhood. Appa being a sportsman we both took up a variety of sports & games from athletics to swimming to chess and carom but somehow cricket remained favourite pass time even after taking up Basketball seriously…

Though born in 1976, I was too young to witness the 1979 World Cup. Being the era where b/w TVs itself were luxury I had no idea till I was probably 8 or 9 that India led by Kapil Dev had already won the World Cup! It was much later that I got to see some pictures of that historic win and much much later to see some recordings.

First memory of a famous Indian Victory 1985 Benson & Hedges Cup and the popular car ride in the stadium by Ravi Sashtri! If am not mistaken it was the first time I watched a cricket match in a colour TV.

1987 – India This edition of the World Cup took place in India (& Pakistan). All I remember is India lost to England in the semi finals thanks to a century by Graham Gooch. England lost to Allan Border led Australia by 7 runs in the final.

1992 – Australia Called the Bensen & Hedges Cup this was the first one the living legend Sachin Tendulkar was part of. And the last one the dashing opener of 80s Kris Srikkanth participated in. I was in Xth std and Appa was based in Air Force Station Kalaikunda (Midnapore Dist, West Bengal, India). I still remember how he got out on the first ball of Deepak Patel of New Zealand on an oval pitch. Pakistan led by Imran Khan won. India didn’t even qualify for the semi- finals.

1996 – India The World Cup returned to India. Called the Wills World Cup it was played in India, Sri Lanka & Pakistan. India was supposed to be in serious contention. I was doing my graduation in Zoology from American College, Madurai. And I watched the matches with my elder cousin brother @ home. My memories of this edition were the semi final between India & Sri Lanka in the famous Eden Gardens. Chasing a target of 252 India were 120 for 8 (Sachin had scored 65 of those runs!!!) when rioting by the crowd stopped the match and it was awarded to Sri Lanka. Images of a crying Vinod Kambli walking off the field are still fresh in my mind. Sri Lanka went on to beat Australia in the finals at Lahore. I was so upset that I decided not to watch cricket for sometime!

1999 – England Memorable one for the fact that I had joined work @ Lintas and worked on a memorable promotion for my client Britannia. Called ‘Britannia Khao, World Cup Jao’ and basically a redemption offer it made the Indian consumer collect 100 runs (by collecting wrappers) and redeem for a chance to go witness the World Cup in England live! For the record it’s supposed to be the most successful marketing promotion in India till date. At the tournament, India had a poor run and was knocked out of the super six round! I was frustrated especially given the amount of work I had put in around the frenzy!!! My dream of witness an Indian world cup victory had to wait…

2003 – South Africa At work we launched another edition of Britannia Khao World Cup Jao. India was a star studded team. Led by Saurav Ganguly it reached the finals! Excited I personally organized screening of the match @ office on a giant screen. I still remember finally just myself and Nandu (my colleague & IT head @ Lintas, Bangalore at that time) ended up watching the match. Australia won the toss and elected to bat. What started as a cricket match soon looked like a football match with Ricky Ponting & Damien Martyn taking the bowlers to the cleaners. They set a target of 360!!! Hungry & frustrated I left office, had a snack and went home. While zapping channels I noticed that Sachin had struck a four in the very first over! Hopeful I started watching. He got out of the very next ball much to my anguish. India went on to lose badly. My wait to witness an Indian world cup victory continued…

2007 – West Indies I had since moved to JWT and from there to Air Deccan in Bangalore. I was also married. A star studded Indian team led by Rahul Dravid (along with most of the players of 2003) was shut out in the first round. They lost to Bangladesh & Sri Lanka and beat novice Bermuda as a consolation. I started to wonder (like Sachin Tendulkar) whether India will win another world cup???

2011 – India By the time the 2011 edition commenced a lot had happened. India had seen a sea change under MS Dhoni & coaches Lalchand Rajput & later Gary Kirsten. They won the T20 World cup in 2007 and had climbed to No 1 in the ICC test rankings. All along little master Sachin Tendulkar continued to pile on runs in the process breaking many a records and creating some really unique ones – the best according to me is becoming the first batsman in the history of ODIs to score 200 in a match!!! IPL

had come around to make the 50 over version look pale!

The World Cup started with India beating Bangladesh hands down. A high scoring tied match against England, some close matches and a loss to South Africa led to India playing their quarter final against Australia. During the course of the league matches some stellar performances with the bat & the bowl by Sachin (now aged 38 but going strong), Sehwag, Virat, Yuvraj, Zaheer & Harbajan made me like the rest of India start dreaming of a World Cup victory at last. Helped by some good bowling performances and a string of half centuries India made it to the semi final.

Mother of All Clashes What else would you call a India-Pakistan World Cup semi final clash? Being a working day I had to witness first half of the match @ work. Though India started well what with some smashing boundaries by Sehwag and a controlled and ‘lucky’ innings by Sachin, we made 260. Pakistan, a team which hasn’t beaten us ever in a World Cup match, started well but wickets fell at regular intervals and they eventually folded out 29 runs short. And whoa!!! we were in the finals!!!

The Finals Sri Lanka had a couple of rather one sided clashes in the knock out stages to qualify for the finals. There were discussions galore while travelling, at work, on the internet, over phone calls…about the teams and their chances. I always thought that Sri Lankan batting was weak and we had a good chance to beat them. As the match time drew closer I did have a few palpitations and memories of the 2003 loss did flash by…Winning the toss Sri Lanka chose to bat. Though they lost wickets at crucial times, backed by a crucial century by Jayewardene Sri Lanka scored 274.

The Run Chase With in form Sehwag going for a duck in the first over and Sachin following shortly I was wondering if we were going to repeat our performance of 2003. Gautam Gambhir & young Virat Kohli started rebuilding the innings. When Kohli got out surprisingly Dhoni walked in. Though initially worried about his shuffling of the line up, I soon realized it was working as we scored at a steady clip….150, 200, 225 and there we were with a little over 50 to score when Gambhir got out. Worried that we may lose a couple more in a hurry I looked on with bated breath. But Yuvraj & MSD ensured there were no more tense moments…

The wait of a lifetime was over…Both for Sachin & me. Having seen the photographs & some old recordings of India winning the World Cup way back in 1983, like any other cricket crazy fan of my generation I wanted to witness India winning the World Cup. And it finally happened. Dhoni had done it again!!! Sachin, the little master finally has a World Cup win against his name! First thing tomorrow morning I will head to the neighbourhood shop to buy all the newspapers. Wonder why? To collect all the memorable photographs capturing India’s World Cup winning moments.

My (rather our) days at Sea Palace!

For the uninitiated Sea Palace is a quaint little hotel with some famous landmarks around it...both historical and comparatively modern ones...situated about 4-5 buildings away from the Taj Mahal Hotel & the Gateway of India and the not so ancient Radio Club... Other famous places nearby are the Regal theatre and couple of famous pubs namely Cafe Mondegar & Leopold!

Thanks to the turn of events Sea Palace became our home (3 of my friends and myself) for a period of a month. We were all happy to have a rosy start to our stint in Mumbai...sea facing rooms (look out of the window and it looked like a mini Monaco, what with all the boats & the yachts) good service and to top it all just 15 mins away from work. And with IPL at its peak, we couldnt have asked for more.

Typical Day (@ Sea Palace)
A enthusiastic friend of mine went jogging in the early hours around the Colaba area...wondering whether we would be able to experience it again...We would get ready by 8.30am and meet at the breakfast table. Have the breakfast coupled with some news in the papers and some gossip and set out to catch a cab. And within 15 mins we would be in office. While we were going through the day's work, based on what the IPL itinerary we would plan the evening. The setting was fairly simple...all of us would congregate in my room to watch the match. Over the next two hours over some snacks & yummy food and interesting conversations we would watch the match. Hoping for an exciting finish some days we would split early thanks to the rather one sided sloppy affairs.

Every evening was planned to venture and experience the high life given we would have had to move out shortly... Bade Miyan, Cafe Mondegar's, Leopold, Sports Bar, Regal, Bombay Gymkhana, Not Just Jazz by the Bay!!!! In a short span we had together or alone visited all these places.

Weekends were as usual a bit slow and lazy...Spent almost the entire 2 days in my room...Having food...wathcing TV and napping...

All in all life was great...no qualms...no complaints...
Wish life could always be like that!!!