Hi, here I will discuss upon few Indian performances in the cricket World Cup. I will only take forward from WC’96 because that’s the earliest I remember. Also for the record, according to me we have won the World Cup 7 times (83, 92, 96, 99, 03, 07 T20, 11) for a very obvious reason :)
Of course there have been numerous performances, but I will only mention those which stood the test of time and managed to stay in my weak memory.
WC’96
WC’96 was a remarkable WC for India. For one it saw some scintillating performances from 2 people, who will always be remembered for those moments of glory. Any other performance in their entire career is a failure in front of those ~15 deliveries. They have written their name in history amongst the greatest performances ever by an Indian. Remarkably both the performances came in the same match. Second of course is demolition by Sachin Tendulkar (he will find a lot of mention in this post)
- Ajay Jadeja taking on waqar younis: Absolutely magnificent hitting, I have never seen him play this way. According to me, Jadeja had a mediocre career and would have died in the record books as a cricketer who represented India in tests and ODI with no record worth mentioning to his name. But those 12 balls made him immortal. It is not only the clean magnificent hitting; it is also the timing of the innings that was perfect. There was no better situation for him to rise to the occasion and the fact that he did that to Waqar Younis added hot brownie to my Ice-cream.
- Venkatesh Prasad V/s Aamir sohail: No prizes for guessing the delivery. No bowler in my recollection has given a better reply to a batsman’s arrogance ever. I think every sports person wishes to god for 1 match where nothing can go wrong for him. Apparently for VP it was just 1 delivery and what a delivery it was. The game was won in a matter of 1 ball. It was Pakistan's 1st wicket and they were in a very comfortable position. But that delivery had more effect on the minds of 22 people than on the scoreboard. Suddenly Pakistan went defensive and India were attacking and we won.
- Sachin Tendulkar against the world: It was the master’s second world cup. I have always felt that the master has never coveted any series more than WC. He would give all his records to be WC winner every time.You could see the disappointment every time we exited from the competition. He took the onus on him even though it was the other 10 that let him down (semifinal with SL is a classic example). His entire performance in WC was a eye candy but his innings against SL in Delhi and Kolkatta will always stand out. The ease with which he batted where no other Indian batsman looked comfortable was amazing. Anyways I will talk about him a lot so let’s move on.
WC’99
- Sachin Tendulkar we let you down: There were of course many scintillating performances in WC’99, but till this very day I have never seen a performance like the one against Kenya (Even better than the desert storm and Kohli the other day) Record wise it was a very dull WC for him but considering he was out their battling even after the sad demise of his father, it is worth saluting. The inning against Kenya was a disgrace for the Indian cricket team, who cannot even step up and deliver when it was required. Having already lost to South Africa in their first match, it must have been difficult for him to leave for India. But with next 2 matches lined up against minnows he left. And to his dismay, we did not even manage a win against Zimbabwe. Shame on you people. When it was time to step up, you gave away 51 Extras (21 wds, 16 Nb). What were you thinking? Thank you Sachin for putting our country first and coming back. Otherwise who knows; given Kenyan record of upsets, we could have had another loss and a early exit, AGAIN. You provided joy and hope to us Indians when even though you were crying a river inside. Every Indian who cheered and relished Indian victory that day owe you a great debt. SALUTE.
- Remption of Saurav Ganguly , Rahul Dravid and Venkatesh Prasad: After the dismal performance against Zimbabwe, no one deserves a mention in WC’99 but I will still mention few for they realized their mistake and stepped up. Saurav disappointed against Zimbabwe but he made sure, the mistake was not repeated. He played a crucial part in must win against England and Srilanka. Ditto for Rahul for he too played superbly post Zimbabwe fiasco. Venkatesh Prasad continued on his journey to dismantle Pakistan. He virtually single-handedly dismissed Pakistan. Which I think were acts of redemption, and we can call them redeemed.
WC’03
- Captain brave Saurav Ganguly: This is the series where I would say that Saurav Ganguly’s youngsters announced their arrival at the big stage. Ever since Ganguly took command of Indian cricket team he was busy resurrecting the new team with given new young talent. Very bold move at that time, but he had all the right ingredients in him to build a new fearless face of Indian cricket. A team which is not afraid to sledge or take up a fight. A team which was not intimidated and was hungry to win. More so they were injected with a belief that they can win from any situation, against any team. In my view it was this tournament which led to the final's win of WC’11. Players, who were devoid of win in the last match of WC'03, did not let this happen in WC’11. By the way, he did perform with bat too. He made 3 centuries in the series (1 against Namibia and 2 against Kenya) not strong oppositions but given the tight spot we were in semi final against Kenya. He saved us from humiliation.
- Ashish Nehra : (6-43)Once in a lifetime performance, I think he must be watching this match over and over again whenever he has free time ( which given his injury record, he has a lot). Just one question: What Happened?
- Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh: (wonderful partnership against Pakistan) I know Sachin had left very less to be done; but given our past, a loss was very mush possible. But I guess it was this new look Indian side or our record of no loss against Pakistan, we continued on our journey to win. With their 100 odd run partnership they sealed the WC’03 for us. Great job.
- Sachin Tendulkar again: You again. Well I am glad I cannot keep you out of any WC. What had you eaten before this WC? It seemed Sachin thought this to be his last WC and was hell bent on winning it. I mean the way he fought fire with fire. The hook to Caddick, outburst against Pakistan and of course that SIX of Rawalpindi express (It was heart breaking to see to walk back to pavilion 2 short of century but still you made my day). I must mention that my 12th boards were on and I lost at least 5%point on my final result. But I do not have any regret at all for what I witnessed was Sachin at his dominating best. I know you blame yourself for not winning the final. But don’t, you already did enough to take us to the finals. It was time for someone else to step up.
Rest in next post
