“Dhoni finishes off in style. A magnificent strike into the crowd! India lift the World Cup after 28 years!”
Ravi Shastri on commentary during 2011 world cup
2007
Mahendra Singh Dhoni – wicket keeper , freak batsman, calm, composed and an astute strategist . Dhoni was already on his way to becoming a cult hero by the time India bowed out of the 2007 ODI world cup. Then something unexpected happened. India decided to make Dhoni the captain of a young T20 team without star players like Dravid, Tendulkar and Ganguly. Everyone was shocked at how casually India were taking the inaugural T20 world cup. A few weeks later India – contrary to all expectations – were crowned T20 world champions. Euphoria, Joy and happiness were back. Cricket was back. The whole country celebrated. Young India became superstars.
My love for cricket ? It was there, it was always there. For the next few years I would cheer the team through thick and thin while collecting jerseys and watching YouTube videos. Cricinfo was my favourite website where I would spend hours and hours researching statistics. I had gone from wanting to be the next fast bowler for India to a complete statistics nerd.
2011
After the T20 world cup, Dhoni went on to become the permanent captain of the Indian team. India went onto dominate ODI’s, winning series in Australia and beating almost every team at home. Dhoni also went onto captain the test team to no.1 rank.
2011. The year India hosted the world cup. In the build up to it, everyone expected nothing less than a world cup win. Cricketing world had started to talk about this being Sachin’s last world cup, and his final chance to cap of a legendary career as a champion . India went onto to play consistent cricket throughout the world cup and came out as world champions . Yuvraj, Dhoni, Gambhir, Sachin, Zaheer. The world cup had so many brilliant performances. It was so complete. It made the nation burst into tears with happiness.
2011, was also the year a 18 year old me had to get serious in life. Fresh out of 12th grade , I had to decide what path to take next, what I wanted to do in life. By this time I had completely resigned to the fact that I would be an armchair cricket expert all my life. Secretly I would sometimes hope to be the next Harsha Bhogle, the one guy who made us non cricketers believe that a true sports fan could make a living out of the sport they loved.
2016 to present
The Dhoni era ended for India around the end of 2016 . This included a dominant India in limited overs . They won 3 world tourneys from 2007 to 2013. Winning ODI’S and T20i’s quite reguilarly at home and away . Dhoni was the undisputed leader. Captain cool. Best finisher in World cricket. However in test cricket the story was different. Whitewashed in England and Australia. Everyone wanted a change. Everyone belived Dhoni was not the right man for the job. Change came in the form of Virat Kohli, the undisputed King of world cricket presently.
Virat Kohli. The man is the fire to Dhoni’s ice. Always involved, always animated. He is a run machine, chasing down totals with ease and runs around the field like a man possessed. Kohli became Test captain in 2015 and went on to captain the team through some amazing results eventually also becoming the Odi captain in 2017 . As a batsman or a captain, Kohli has had some stunning results in all three formats whether at home or away.
2019, the year of the world cup. India went in as one of the favorites along with England. India played some consistent cricket throughout the group stages. In the semis they faced the Kiwis and came up short against a spirited performance from the opposition . Entire Indian nation was and still is in shock. No one expected or wanted India to lose. .
It’s been a month since India’s world cup campaign came to an end. As the memory of a so near yet so far campaign fades away India are now playing the West Indies away from home . What’s in store for the team ahead? A 2020 T20 world cup, lot’s of new players and strategies to try, legends having to retire. The only thing certain is that there is no lack of talent, effort or motivation and the team is in capable hands for the future.
What about me ? Right now I am sitting and writing this blog, hoping to influence and interest people enough in the game we all love. I will continue to share some interesting thoughts, statistics and stories on everything cricket.
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