Cricket world cup!!!

time for another bout between the world's most talented cricketing teams. entertainment, excitement, joy, everything put together. the ICC world cup 2007! west indies is definitely a gud venue for such an event. they have the best grounds in the world. but sometimes u wish the boundary line were a little closer(hitting a six is too difficult here!).

india is in the race for the trophy, with other big shots like aussies & south africa. england, srilanka, kiwis, every other team also seems to be in a gud form. with sachin, ganguly, kumble & dravid being the only players with seniority, our team seems to be relatively inexperienced. but we r not playing with a handicap here. we have pathan & zaheer to make the bowling act. probably this is kumble's last ODI series, sachin's last world cup. india must win this world cup.

cricket is a religion in india, cricketers are worshipped here. but we have had bitter experiences in the last few years. people here are too impatient to watch their team lose. they can't digest the fact that there are better people out there playing better than us. as if our team is full of super humans. it is simple. u win the match, people worship u. u lose, people curse u & burn ur effigies. fans are literally mad about winning, because that's what most people define for themselves as entertainment. they enjoy if their team wins, but if their team loses, they simply rule out the entire enjoyment they had for hours, no matter how dramatic the end result is. is cricket really winning in india?

looking at the other nations where cricket is played, their fans really support the players. no matter how many matches they win, fans always stand by their side. even if their team loses a match, they don't call them losers, they wait for a comeback. but here? if india loses a match with poor performance, they say india is the worst team. and if india loses despite the heroic efforts of a single player, critics target that single hero and make him a selfish villian.

u r right, i am talking about the maestro, sachin tendulkar. people always count on him. if he hits a half century, they expect him to hit a ton. if he does a ton, they expect even more. what do they want? should sachin score the entire target for the team? when will they realize that cricket is a team game? it is not just the ton hitter who matters, even the tail ender who scores 1 run matters, coz that 1 run makes the difference between winning & losing. so if sachins scores 100 & gets out, why do people blame him for not staying at crease till the end? why do people call him selfish? isn't he adding to the team score? he has even played with critical injuries, that could've lamed the rest of his career. he played even when he suffered the biggest possible loss in anyone's life. his father's death. he sure has done his part. that's what i want people to understand. he is not scoring for his career, because he is already beyond the reach of most of his contemporary players. he is indeed playing for the team. just look at this picture of sachin. i could've chosen a flashy sixer pic, but this one made more sense. this is when he took a wicket, he is really enjoying it. but bowling is not his main act, then why is he so excited? he is excited because he helped the team move closer to victory. this man is not the type who cares about himself, he cares about his team. his nation's pride. sir donald bradman, the don of cricket did not appreciate sachin for his figures or records, but for his talent. it is just the way he plays the game. that's why people all around the world agree upon one thing. if cricket is religion, then sachin is god.

another important person for the team, ganguly. he is the player with the worst fate in the entire ICC list of players. not because he did something wrong, but because someone did not like him.

chapell is definitely not a good coach. i didn't say this because he threw ganguly out of the team, but because of his ways of training. he made the indian cricket team take military kind of training, was it really necessary? he said he was doing this to increase fitness for the players. this is something like giving typing classes for a programmer to make him a better coder. there are other things to improve. how many times have we witnessed the deadly aim of an australian fielder? 9 out of 10 throws will be direct hits, the runners between the wickets don't take the risk when ball is in the hands of the australian fielder.

and why was ganguly dropped? because the board felt he didn't play well. it is a fact that ganguly had major problems sustaining his form, people made jokes on ganguly (the most famous one being the 2 minute noodles joke, u start noodles when ganguly goes to the crease, u finish noodles by the time he returns). but every other player had problems with form. they were all given a chance. but why did it take so long in ganguly's case? kiran more (enemy of half of kolkata) even stated that ganguly will never make it to the team again. but ganguly was determined. he fought back & proved that the team needed his services. dada is back! now he is playing consistently, scoring well in almost every match.

i chose the above pic for ganguly, because i feel that is the most important thing for a captain to do, acknowledge the effort of his team. and ganguly did that well. he was a good batsman, a good captain (also a good bowler at times). we don't need hunt for newbies for the team. what we need is experience. and that's ganguly brought to the team with him. welcome back dada!

india might win or lose at the world cup, but let's enjoy the game. we enjoy the football world cup even if india is not a part of it. let's do the same with cricket. let the runs flow.. let the wickets fall. i'm sure we'll see many flashy sixes & flying catches. experts in cricket from all over the world gathered to entertain us. it is a festive season for all cricket fans. and above all, let the spirit of cricket win!