As the Indian team was reduced to 5 for 3 wickets in the semi-finals against New Zealand today and as I pretty much shut myself off of every medium that broadcast the match scores, these words from the famous Crowded House song began to linger in my mind. I harboured a dream that India would have a walkover victory of this World Cup the way the team had performed superbly in the big games. i.e. Australia, South Africa, Pakistan. In comparison, a score of 240 didn’t seem daunting with 9 batsmen, huh. But it’s a loss whichever way you look at it and we have to wait for 4 years for the coveted cricket trophy to come home. So don’t stop dreaming until then.
Fans will have funny ways to show their contempt to the losing team, somehow their shades of emotions are always in black and white and they would perhaps judge this Indian team on the wrong side of the game. In all the hoopla they’d be forgetting that the guys held out to the best of the best in the world and put up a fight against all odds to win all except 1 match in the league stage. That’s a great record.
So here’s some pouring of my utter exasperation arising out of India’s loss today. To begin with, no doubt this semi-final match would be best remembered in history for being a ‘two-day international’ due to the inclement weather of England. Whatever advantage that India could have got in the second half was lost completely during the second day’s play I feel. Would I have said that had India won the match? Not at all. Quite honestly, I can assure you, not just the fans but even the players would have felt the fatigue of continuing a match on a reserve day, that’s all. I thought ICC could have allowed a new game from the beginning on a new day, with the idea being, an ODI should be played within a single day’s time frame. But the less said the better about ICC rules now.
I would like to say this without any bias or malice against any other cricketing nation, that India were truly the champions of this world cup edition considering the challenges they were faced with and how they were dealt with by men with sheer teamwork. Kudos to the coaching staff on this too who rarely get the spotlight. Despite the loss by 18 runs I still think Kohli’s men played with all their heart and soul and continued to keep a billion dreams of winning the cup afloat. Nevertheless this is how I will remember this world cup and India’s achievements in the days to come. Or at least until the next big Indian victory in a mega cricketing event!
- I had pointed out in an earlier post about the exclusion of Ambati Rayudu. Going into this World Cup India was still playing without a credible in-form no. 4 batsman preferring to go with Vijay Shankar. Showing a lack of confidence in him they picked KL Rahul, a rank opener himself, who proved his mettle during a warm-up game against Bangladesh where he hit a 98-ball 108. There was no doubt he had carved a place for himself in the squad but it was still a temporary arrangement at this stage of the game. So who’s going to be the No. 4 batsman for India? Plenty of time to experiment now.
- In a league match against Australia opener Shikhar Dhawan got injured and was ruled out of the tournament after fracturing his thumb. Rishabh Pant was sent to England as a replacement but now India was suddenly without an experienced opener. So Rahul becomes an opener again and shines with Rohit Sharma. This constant shuffling of batting order must have taken its toll on him but he performed brilliantly under pressure. He also scored the highest opening partnerships of this World Cup with Rohit Sharma. Salute to his tenacity!
- Later, during the match against Pakistan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar pulled his hamstring on the wet bowling track and was ruled out for the next 3 games. Bhuvi was replaced by Mohammed Shami who played his first match in the tournament against Afghanistan. Defending a paltry 224 Shami takes a hat-trick in the last over to create history and becomes only the second Indian in ICC World Cup history to take a hat-trick giving India it’s 50th World Cup match victory.
- The injury woes with Team India continued which was frankly quite worrisome. This time it was all-rounder Vijay Shankar got hit on the toe by a Bumrah yorker in the nets and was ruled out of the World Cup. He was replaced by Mayank Agarwal who hadn’t played a single ODI until then. As an opener he did not play any game in the World Cup too. Controversial inclusion for a pure test player, as some would say.
- How could I forget mentioning Ravindra Jadeja. He was called a ‘bits and pieces player’ by a yesteryear cricketer when he played the last league match against Sri Lanka. Jadeja proved to be quite the opposite though saving runs and taking wickets in that match. He’s displayed talent in the business through his all-round performance and made such a big difference to this Indian side despite coming so late in the tournament. Against the Kiwis in the semis today, he cracked 77 off just 59-balls in a 100 run partnership with Dhoni when the team was 6 down at 92. He single-handedly brought India closer to victory at a time when they were 5 runs for 3 wickets and I thought India’s innings would shamefully end within 100 runs. Rest assured, the pompous batsman from 2 generations ago had to chew his words, bit by bit, into pieces!
- Jasprit Bumrah is, undoubtedly, the most impressive bowlers of the Indian bowling attack from the recent past. Period. I’m impressed with Shami too. But if you thought Bumrah’s short run up was deceiving you should consider his bowling action and his use of the wrist to bowl a yorker or a 140+ kmph delivery at will. Undoubtedly, he now finds place in the top 10 all time bowlers with best ODI average.
Earlier during the World Cup, Jasprit Bumrah also completed the 100-wickets mark in ODIs, in the 57th match of his career. With that, he also became the second-fastest Indian (and the ninth-fastest overall) to achieve the feat.
Source: Fox Sports
- Last but not the least, although he managed just a run in the semi-finals that shouldn’t take anything away from Rohit Sharma who was in whacking form this World Cup series. He’s the leading run-scorer so far in this World Cup and became the first player to hit 5 centuries in a single world cup edition. Obviously, him and Kohli were the real run-machines around which India pivoted and collected victories throughout this tournament. When they missed out on runs in an all important game today the team naturally languished. You can evidently feel the despair in Kohli’s tweet below.
For me, this loss will remain a heartbreaking event for several reasons. Team India played such wonderful cricket, it was a well-thought out a calculated effort, barring their effort against England where I thought winning the toss would have changed the game. Also 9/10 times I’d pick India to beat New Zealand in ODIs but then rains happened in the pathetic English weather and I’ll always wonder how a battery of 9 world-class batsmen got capitulated to some Kiwi seam bowling. Maybe the pitch had something in it after the weather pattern changed dramatically in 48-hours but it doesn’t matter now. I’m more interested in picking the diamonds from the ashes.
The next edition of the World Cup in 2023 is also the first time that India would be hosting the mega event on its own. This team has lot of talent and it’s likely that we are going to see some exciting players in that world cup from India — Bumrah, Pant, Khaleel Ahmed, Kedar Jadhav, perhaps would be regulars in the team by then. Buckle up guys, tt shall be, without a minuscule doubt, India’s World Cup to win!
Lastly, if I had to summarize India’s ICC 2019 World Cup performance who could be the best person to describe it then one of the greatest legends of boxing in the world. See you in 2023!
I’m a dreamer. I have to dream and reach for the stars, and if I miss a star then I grab a handful of clouds.
– Mike Tyson
