Skip to main content

What a campaign!

April 2nd, 2011 is a day I'll remember for a long time. Not just for this shot but the way in which India handled the final overall. Barring the last 5 overs of the SL innings and the first 5 of India's innings, I've rarely seen the team look in such complete control on a big day. It was just brilliant overall and for me will remain a highlight of my India watching days forever. And I would have to disagree with Nirmal Shekhar that this victory was not as epochal as the first one in 1983. Back then, there were no expectations from the team and therefore no pressure, whereas this team was expected to win from day one by a billion plus people. Performing under that kind of pressure is an achievement that can't be overstated. I do agree with Andy Bull's view that there is going to be a big talent drain post the World Cup. Ponting, Sangakkara, Vettori, and Smith have already given up the limited overs captaincy and Murali has played his last international game. Tendulkar, Kallis, Lee, Dravid, Laxman, are going to be gone soon as well. I'm confident though that there will be plenty of replacements and with talents like Kohli, Raina, Mathews, deVilliers, Morgan, Bravo etc there won't be a lack of future stars.

India's campaign also reminded me in many ways of Stefan Edberg's last Grand Slam victory at the US Open in 1992. As the defending champion, he was amongst the favourites and had a relatively easy first few rounds but then thrice in a row, he got through five-set victories and near defeats to get through to the final (just like India did against the Windies, Australia and Pakistan). And in the final against Sampras, he dropped the first set and the next two sets were tightly contested but was then in cruise mode in the final set. The similarities don't end there, he defeated an ageing Lendl (who had been dominant at the US Open in that era) in the quarters like India did with the Aussies, then beat Chang in the semis (when few had expected the latter to get that far). And then he met Sampras who was the smoothest through the tournament (much like Sri Lanka were) and defeated him (in the end) quite easily.


To sign off, loved Dhoni's quote when asked what next for him as captain - "I don't mind repeating everything"...way to go!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Of backward selections and England's future

A couple of interesting selectorial decisions recently by England and India (and actually as its turning out Australia as well!). For once I think the England selectors didn't panic and showed the right thinking by not picking either Key or Ramprakash for the Oval Test. And luckily for them, both Bell and Trott have performed well enough to vindicate the decision. India on the other hand have actually gone the other way bringing Dravid back to the one-day squad. I'm a bit ambivalent on that one. While the decision to leave out Rohit Sharma and retain Raina was certainly the right one, bringing back Dravid is questionable. It would have been a bolder decision to pick someone like Kohli or Rahane who both played really well in the Emerging Players Trophy recently, mainly because Dravid is quite unlikely to feature in the 2011 World Cup so why bring him back now? As for the Aussies, they will certainly be regretting not picking Nathan Hauritz for the Oval. A defensive decision if...
Post a Comment
Read more

Happy New Year .....

....well almost......its only 2 months in to 2009 so I guess its not terribly late for the first post of the year :-) The end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 has been quite engrossing primarily because of the tussle for supremacy between Australia and South Africa. And its interesting how once again, the Aussies are showing that the biggest mistake 'pundits' can make is to write them off. But I am jumping way ahead. The series in Australia was a real cracker and it was great to see the Springboks actually delivering so well on their abilities for once and not choking at the big moments. And in Steyn, Amla, de Villiers, Duminy and Morkel they have some real stars in the making and should be a strong team for some time to come. Australia's struggles on the other hand were not surprising after their performance in India. The same guys, i.e. Hayden and Lee continued to underwhelm and with the inexplicable selection of Symonds made things worse for Ricky Ponting. They were a l...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Predictions..

So the time has come, a day late actually since I was supposed to put these in last night. Anyways, today's games have not changed my predictions so I can honestly say that I did not cheat :-) After a fairly pedestrian first round-robin phase, the tournament has finally kicked off and the ensuing games will hopefully see cricket of a much higher quality. My final four would be South Africa, India, Sri Lanka and New Zealand and an India-South Africa final would be a dream. Pakistan and the West Indies are certainly capable of causing an upset or two but I don't see them sneaking in. England and Ireland should draw up the rear which is a bit of a pity given that its on their home turf (or at least the former's). Its interesting how in cricket, home turf never seems to provide much advantage when it comes to big tournaments. Football is almost the exact opposite and on the face of it, that seems so counter-intuitive. There must be a sports psychology explanation of some sort. ...
Post a Comment
Read more