Numero Uno!

"Woh sikandar hi dosto kehlata hai, Haari baaji ko jeetana jise aata hai…" Keeping this song in mind I, and if I am not wrong, every cricket follower stayed awake till 1:00am with the fear of six and hope of dot ball. When the later came true, the surge of happiness flew in our blood and the sense of gratification was enthralling. The vociferous celebration by the team including Dhoni, who is seldom seen pouring his expressions, was indication of the real achievement. Being in a state of positive mind and keeping faith on the available ability helped fight against the adverse situation. That is what Indian Cricket Team showed.

Off the field:

A lot was being talked when Dhoni did not utter a word on the then burning issue of IPL Entertainment Fixing (it is better to name it 'entertainment' only than calling 'cricket'). Speculations were on the high as he was associated with the franchisee whose relative was relishing the bet on his own team. He was being treated as scapegoat for not expressing any views. Many were expressing that he should at least say few lines, the news-starved media was leading this race. Dhoni was aware with the fact, a few lines could be turned into an essay by the media surfing for a 'breaking news', and that could hamper the preparation, distract the players and ultimately halt the team’s prospect. Wisdom lies in silence, keeping it in the mind, Dhoni, with his troops had landed on “the Queen’s land". The alien condition; (the word famously used by Ian Chappel) damp weather, cold waves, moving deliveries, bowler-friendly pitches under which we had lost all the matches during last encounter with the British, had stuck to the tail of the adverse scenario.

The run towards the Championship:

We look at cricket as hedonism, so we were optimistic that Indian team would do well. In most of the ICC events, we relied on the performance of other teams to proceed ahead, but this time we were steps ahead from other participants and marched to the throne, with final battle engaged with The Queen’s Eleven. The reds were preying the blues from all the corners under the worst condition they had faced till date. Ganguly had commented, if India wanted to protect this total, they had to get all ten Englishmen. It looked bleak at 20 runs required in 16 balls with still 6 Englishmen to follow. Under this predicament situation, only faith and motivation of the leader could have helped to transcend. Yes, we had these two with which we managed to transcend and grabbed the throne of championship.

The Stay at the wicket:

For any team to maintain the tag of champions, its top five batsmen need to be consistent in their innings. Under this current lot, Shikhar Dhawan, Kohli, Dhoni, Karthik, and Raina look settled. Rohit, well praised by the cricket greats for his batting style, needs to curb his casual approach. I still feel Yuvraj, Gambhir, and Sehwag would be needed to strengthen the batting. Our bowling unit is progressing nicely to form a reliable attack; just need to sharpen the axe. Sir Jadeja is performing a lot better, at least, for the current period. We have lifted the champions trophy from the United Kingdom, Dhoni needs to keep his kingdom united, if we are to reign for a long period and stay Numero Uno.

Ritesh Kadam
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