Boys Becoming Men

Take the pressure off their back and they will win you a world cup. Don't have high expectations and they will deliver their best. India have just achieved something which is capable of going down into history books and if not atleast it is worthy of becoming a case study.

If Cricket is a strange game then 20- 20 has lived up to the reputation and produced some amazing games worthy of a world cup. Minnows and marginalized team like Zimbawe beat the world champions in their first game. The world champions got their act together and produced some ruthless cricket to knock teams like Sri Lanka out of the tournament only to find Yuvraj too hot to handle. Bret Lee was hit for the longest six of the world cup by him and the little onslaught sealed the fate for the champions. On their way India also butchered South Africa who was undefeated in the tournament.

And this was a team without an experienced captain, without a coach, without any real experience of the game format and without any experience of playing together as a team. Nothing was expected of them as memories of an early world cup exit were fresh in the minds of the people. Advertisers were shying away from the cricket, board was battling it out with Indian cricket league and hockey and football team were doing the Chak De act at their respective stages. So what was expected was to get into the second round and then make an exit at the hands of England who were playing quite an aggressive cricket and were high on confidence after recent series victory. They were playing the same team who demolished Indian bowling attack at numerous occasion in the last series.

What else, to compound the problems India were without their three pillars of batting attack and the lone warrior was Yuvraj Singh with the maximum experience of one day cricket. But it was one over which changed everything. Yuvraj hit the ball all around the park with miraculous ease and absolute power. The most economical bowler in the one day series was hit for six sixes in an over and Indians crossed the magical 200 figures for the first time. It changed everything. Indian team started believing that they are capable of producing some good cricket and if the boys kept their act together, they can do it. The team as well as fans started smelling victory from there on. And that was what I think was the turning point of this tournament. Indian team came home with the self belief and after a long long time, Indian fans had a nice sleep with dreams of Yuvraj hitting the ball everywhere and India winning a world cup.

The average age of Indian team was 24 years and if you put up the experience together than the whole of the team combined has played lesser one day internationals than the 3 senior players who were sitting out for the greater cause. The players like Joginder and Rohit Sharma were never tested before in international conditions but the way Rohit maintained his pause in the crunch match against South Africa and England it was really a delightful treat for the eyes. It requires a lot of confidence to hit Mohd Asif for a six off the second delivery that you face and Yusuf Pathan justified his inclusion in the team by hitting the ball out of the ground.

We never had a balanced pace attack and in this format our bowlers were expected to be hit for anything but then it’s the bowler who won us the quarterfinal against South Africa. If the batsmen were capable of some audacious stroke play then bowlers also proved that they can work wonders if they get their act right. Sreesanth was a bit inconsistent in the tournament but luckily he completed a nice finish by holding on to probably the most precious catch of his life. RP Singh was spectacular while Irfan Pathan once again proved that what he is capable of. I wonder that if in a batsmen friendly match he can be so potent then he would have done wonders in the seaming and swinging conditions of England and what else that this chap can wield his willow also a little bit.

An inexperienced team playing without a coach has done something so wonderful that it’s worthy of going into the history books. It has done a lot of good for Indian cricket and hopefully in the history of Indian cricket, this victory will get a place near to the only other world cup victory. Kapil was about 24 years old at that time and the average age of this team has been 24. What a match and what a tournament. Presence of ShahRukh Khan reminds us of Chak De factor but the boys have proved themselves that they are worthy of taking on men now. We have a street smart captain who doesn’t hesitate in making fielding change after every single ball and we have a team who can hit Australians with the same power as if they are playing minnows.