India reign supreme in world Cup

It  took  more  than two decades for  India  to win  the  World Cup cricket championship for the second time  at  the  expense of their  South Asian neighbor Sri Lanka played at the historic Wankhede stadium in Mumbai  in front of  a vocal and enthused partisan  crowd.

The entire population of 1 billion plus erupted into   ecstasy   and   wild celebration, following skipper Mahendra   Singh Dhoni’s winning runs into the gallery.

There   was every reason   for   the   cricket crazy   nation   to fully   rejoice   and celebrate the   triumph they had been yearning for so long.   

India   peaked form at the most critical juncture of the championship and never looked behind from there on. They were a whole rejuvenated lot, following their wins over Australia and Pakistan in the quarter-final and semi-final respectively.   

The final between the two    South Asian   giants   was   epic, riveting, enthralling and gripping from start to finish.

Although India went into the final as favorites they   had to sweat for victory. There were anxious moments for the team, especially   after the early departure of master blaster  Tendulkar and   Shewag.  

Gambhir and Kohli partnership, however, steadied the innings to some degree but the day belonged to the right and left combination of    Gambhir  and Dhoni who defied a  rejuvenated Sri Lankan attack spearheaded by  Malinga.

Despite   intense pressure  Dhoni  not only promoted himself ahead of in form Yuvaraj  Singh  but  played a flawless  captain’s  knock to ensure his team  victory.  Overcome by a    rush   of adrenalin   Gambhir  fell short of his century by three runs.

On the other hand, the Islanders missed   a host of   opportunities to upset the applecart.  Batting first they did extremely well to post a   competitive  total  of  274  with the help of a   swashbuckling unbeaten 103  from Jawardene and   48 from captain  Sangakkara.

The Sri Lankan bowlers, however, failed  to pin down Indian batsmen , especially  after  Malinga’s  two  quick wickets, which included the prize wicket of Tendulkar.  Rest is history.

After a long-drawn-out wait Tendulkar finally got   what he wanted the most , a World Cup  success, in his  illustrious career spanning twenty plus years.

On the contrary,   Muttiah  Muralitharan, one of the  most prolific wicket takers of contemporary cricket had to end his career on a hugely disappointing note. Surely the master of spin  will be greatly missed.

The  championship had  its share of  surprises.   It was absolute delight to see Asian  teams  dominant the proceedings. Apart from Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka, Bangladesh narrowly  failed to reach the quarter-final.

Nonetheless, Bangladesh  is  fast catching up with the best in the world. The kind of   foray   they   have made into   world cricket    at   a   steady   pace in recent years   is incredible.

Title contenders Australia and South Africa’s uninspiring performance was a  shocker. Even more  shocking  was  their elimination in the quarter-finals.

Now that Ricky Ponting  has stepped down  as  skipper, it is obvious that the Aussies have been left with  plenty of  rethinking to do. So are the South Africans.

England and the West Indies have seen their game  go haywire  for a good number of years in both Test  matches and limited over version of the game. They have a mountain to climb in order to get back to where they were once upon a time.

By far the  tournament’s biggest surprise  was New Zealand, the only team outside of South Asia  to qualify for the semi-final.

Speaking of Cinderella   stories  barring Ireland’s win over England  there were none. On the whole it was not the best of the best   performance by the associate members.

India’s World Cup success has  bolstered the popularity of cricket  in the Indian sub-continent further. Certainly we will see   more and more youngsters  taking to   the game.

Not to forget  that cricket  is big time in  South  Asia, however, more importantly  is  the number one  team sport in terms of popularity in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.

The rage for cricket in Nepal  is phenomenal and is fast closing the popularity  gap with football. The  entire  population   fascination   for the game was in full display  during the  World Cup.

It is sad to note that Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) has not  been able to  cash in on the  immense popularity enjoyed by the game  in the country in terms of  development.

Hopefully  things change for  the good for Nepali cricket. I desperately  want to see that happen.