To the pinnacle and back
World Cup triumph was the high point of the Indian season even as Test standards plummeted
It wasn’t just another six. It was the stroke that signalled the end of a 28-year wait, a towering hit that finally answered the prayers of over a billion Indians.
It was the moment when India translated hopes and dreams and aspirations into reality. And how fitting, that it should be Mahendra Singh Dhoni who should produce the stroke that crowned India World Cup champions! Again!
Just like June 25, 1983 occupies a seminal place in Indian cricket history, April 2, 2011 will also be a red letter day, a day when Dhoni’s brave, bold, enterprising bunch bucked the trend and became the first team to win the World Cup on its own soil. The exploits of Kapil’s Devils at Lord’s in 1983 had left the nation wanting more, but that wasn’t forthcoming until Dhoni’s Dynamos rewrote history at the Wankhede stadium, pummelling Sri Lanka into submission in a nerve-jangling final.
Everything else that preceded, and succeeded, that epochal World Cup run will perforce be a footnote. Yes, the loss of the world number one Test ranking to England rankles. Agreed, to come away from a tour of the Old Blighty without a single international victory in ten tilts was an acute embarrassment. To then pay England back in the same coin, with a 5-0 one-day sweep on home turf, was redemption of sorts. And then to sit back and watch Virender Sehwag decimate the West Indies on his way to the highest one-day international score was an experience in itself.
The loss to Australia in a topsy-turvy final Test of the year, in Melbourne, was disappointing. But for sheer hype and drama, for delight and ecstasy, for a sense of achievement and fulfilment, nothing that 2011 offered on the cricket field matched the triumphant run of the Indian brigade in the World Cup.
It was a victory that, as team triumphs generally do, revolved around contributions from various quarters – on the field and off it. The planning, under the supervision of Gary Kirsten, was astute. For a long while in the lead-up to the quadrennial extravaganza, much of India’s energies were directed towards the World Cup, though that didn’t take their focus away from a full tour of South Africa. By the time the competition arrived, India had been toughened up by their demanding Protean sojourn where they drew the Test series 1-1 and lost a close one-day series 2-3.
India’s greatest concern going into the World Cup was not so much form as fitness, not as much about runs and wickets as about staying injury-free. Fortunately for them, barring Ashish Nehra’s split webbing in a tension-soaked semifinal against Pakistan in Mohali, there were no major mishaps.
Crucially, while the team ticked over like a well-oiled machine, the one man with proven all-round match-winning skills came to the party. No, he doesn’t answer to the name of Sachin Tendulkar. Or Sehwag. Or Dhoni.
Take a bow, Yuvraj Singh! Going into the World Cup, the left-handed limited-overs all-rounder was the least likely candidate to make the most lasting impact. In the space of six and a half weeks, he had the entire country eating out of his hands with one tremendous effort after another, both with bat and ball.
The 30-year-old is a rhythm player who is unstoppable once he gets on a roll. Throughout the World Cup, he was on song, making attractive runs, taking crucial wickets and fielding with a zeal and resolve that was a throwback to his early days in international cricket. That he managed all that with what was later diagnosed as a non-malignant tumour lends the touch of romance and poignancy without which sport can seldom transcend the ordinary.
Inasmuch as it wasn’t a one-man show, Yuvraj towered head and shoulders over his team-mates, the most obvious choice for the Player of the Tournament as the team kept up its word of ‘winning it for Sachin’. The great man himself played no small role, stacking up centuries against England and South Africa, the second one triggering the wait for a 100th international hundred that still continues.
The euphoria of the World Cup success was more than marginally tempered by the events in England. It was as if all the injuries the team was spared during the World Cup surfaced in one go; depleted and seriously short on confidence, India were ripped to shreds by England, the cricketing wheel coming a full circle for Yuvraj, who now finds himself out of Test reckoning with a host of young guns staking their claims.
Amidst the clamour for youth, Rahul Dravid struck a huge blow for the veterans with five glorious Test hundreds in 2011. The only Indian batsman to come away with any credit from England, the Bangalorean topped 1000 runs in the calendar year for a third time, batting with an aplomb that suggests a second wind has made a welcome appearance at 38. His Zen-like poise and seemingly insatiable appetite for runs is something the likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, among others, would do well to emulate.
Oh, and of course, Sehwag! Having announced a couple of years back that he was capable of scoring a one-day double ton, the Nawab of Najafgarh showed it was no empty boast with a spectacular 219 in Indore against the shell-shocked Caribbeans. It was vintage Sehwag, the icing on the cake in a year of plenty for India in one-day cricket. Test cricket -- now that’s another story!
