Keep firm faith in this Indian team

Cricket in India is probably one of the most followed national sports ever in sheer volumes of fan following within a single country. I remember my young days as a fan of cricket and one of my most thrilling experiences in life was following India’s path to triumph in the 1983 World Cup.

I can relate to a lot of youngsters today, who followed India’s last World Cup keenly and experienced the same joy that our generation went through 30 years ago. As a fan of the game, I remember India’s glorious phase around the ’83 Cup and the impact it hand on me. We all tried to copy our favourite players, to imitate their game and their behaviours. To me personally, Kapil Dev was an icon who’s exploits I tried to emulate wherever I could.

Over the years, as a bowler, I realised that one of the thrills that amplifies the joy of taking a wicket is the roar of the stadium that follows after that minute of realization. I simply can’t imagine cricket without that support, that inspiration of fans rooting for you and motivating you to do well. The love and respect that fans show you is outstanding and is really great for player esteem. I am sure, for a lot of young players who are starting out in international cricket, being acknowledged and supported by a large number of fans goes a long way in building their confidence as they step into new uncharted territories. Needless to say, playing in India packs stadiums but even outside of India, there is immense support from fans coming to watch the game. They simply love it, and they put the effort to come from far places to watch us play, especially when we don’t tour that often to some of the other nations.

When I think of fans of Indian cricket during my playing days, my fondest memory has been people coming upto me and reminiscing my ‘moment’ with Aamir Sohail in the ’96 cup. There have been other moments, but fans always take a special joy when it is a memory involving tough teams to beat. It is a great feeling that I gave some of the youngsters of that era something to talk about even today.

As India heads towards another challenging World Cup season, all I want to tell the Indian cricket fan is to keep supporting and have faith in the team and players. Cricket is a tough and sometimes unpredictable game, and the result can’t always be ideal. Whenever the team goes through a tough match, it is all the more imperative that we as fans back the players and urge them to doing their best in the next game.