Team India has done it, Chak De, that is. The present team is what a dream team is all about. Eleven men working as a team and displaying, in turns, individual brilliance, for the ultimate goal of winning for the team. The team is full of die-hard youngsters willing to give their sweat and blood but unwilling to give in. Yesterday’s match was an example of what belief in oneself and trust in your teammates can do to the endeavor.
While Sreesanth took care of the danger men Gilchrist and Hayden, RP Singh and Harbhajan did their bit by bowling the tightest 18th and 19th over. It was very important because the last over was to be bowled by Joginder who was low on confidence and had been belted all around in his previous overs. 24 runs in the last over were still possible and Dhoni once again showed trust and faith in his bowlers by handing over the ball to Joginder in the face of a possible defeat. That is what did wonders for Joginder’s confidence and was clearly reflected in the first ball. It was a no score ball and Joginder smiled for the first time in the innings. And when one does that, smile in the face of adversity, there is little the adversary can do to stop him / her.
I doubt any of the previous captains, barring Kapil Dev would have had the guts to hand the ball to Joginder in the last over after he had been taken charge of by the Aussies. In fact, under the circumstances, you would have seen the faces of the big three i.e. Sachin, Saurav and Dravid turn pale and droop as long as gravity wished. Instead of planning strategy for the last three overs, they would have started planning how to justify their loss.
BCCI has unwittingly selected the best for this Indian team. I wish they had made this mistake for the ODI World Cup also. I don’t think the Indian team needs Sachin, Saurav and Dravid anymore because these three, though immensely talented individually, know nothing about teamwork, leadership and conviction. Moreover these three have been so over hyped by the media that the youngsters playing alongside must be having a tremendous pressure for fear of being admonished or being negatively talked about by the big three.
Dhoni’s presence in the team as Captain has given the team an individual they can relate to. He does not have any airs and does not mind walking up to anyone for advice and guidance. His being the Captain also has forced his seniors Sehwag and Yuvraj to bear more responsibility. The result is there for all to see.
Pakistan also was knocked out in the ODI world cup and has come in with a younger team. They will be under tremendous pressure on Monday since they had lost to India in the initial stages of the tournament. Maybe it was a wake up call for them, but they have not looked back after that.
The final of the Twenty20 world cup is going to be an electrifying affair. A clash between these two teams is exciting enough without it being an important match. Finals of a World Cup is going to be breathtaking you can expect a lot of heart stopping moments. It will provide all the ingredients for a reel life blockbuster. May the best team WIN.
No comments:
Post a Comment