Ahead of the World Cup, widely perceived as the most open in recent times, India found itself in an unenviable position: anointed as the favourite and appointed to play in front of volatile, demanding home crowds. A measure of the constricting pressure India's cricketers experienced during the tournament may be had from captain M.S. Dhoni's revelation that his men struggled to keep their food down and that Yuvraj Singh was physically sick because of anxiety. Seen in this light, India's second World Cup triumph — 28 years after the gloriously improbable victory Kapil Dev's team achieved against the mighty West Indies — appears all the more remarkable. Four distinct qualities characterise this triumph. One, the facility for natural expression under pressure, especially when batting. Two, game-toughness, which manifested itself in the wherewithal to meter resources through a draining tournament. Three, the peculiar yet much-desired ability, common to teams Dhoni leads, not so much to solve problems as to transcend them (the lift in the fielding standard of a largely unathletic side inured to mediocrity was hard to explain). Four and most important of all, an unbending desire to win that was stronger than any of the other teams.
From a unit that looked flawed in the league stage — its bowling inadequate, its fielding incompetent, its batting inconsistent, particularly in the Power Play overs — India transformed itself into a side that got the job done in the big matches. As Dhoni noted, his team peaked at the right time. No one better illustrated this transformation than the captain. He reserved his best innings — a poised, calculated, and ultimately devastating 91 — for the finale. His decision to promote himself in the big game was a classic case of leading from the front, and while he made tactically questionable calls, his ability to inspire a band of men to stay invested in a contest is second to none. Gautam Gambhir seems to escape notice in a team of superstars, but he must be acknowledged as one of the finest big-match batsmen of his generation. His record in second innings in important Tests and in run chases and grand finals in ODIs and Twenty20 games is exceptional. India discovered and re-discovered many heroes in the World Cup. Yuvraj had a standout tournament, his runs and wickets often coming when his team needed them most. Zaheer Khan held the bowling together, delivering wickets whenever his captain threw him the ball in the middle-stages. He might not have ended as he wished, but his brilliant opening spell in the final set the tone. Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli, and Suresh Raina made runs that were worth more than their quantity while Harbhajan Singh, Munaf Patel, and Ashish Nehra contributed vital spells without having consistently good tournaments. R. Ashwin, curiously overlooked for much of India's campaign, added an edge to the bowling and forced Harbhajan to raise his game. Sachin Tendulkar, for whom the team said it wanted to win the World Cup, continued his scarcely believable second wind which now spans three years. The team's spontaneous gesture of chairing a visibly emotional Tendulkar and parading him before an adoring home crowd showed how much it meant to all involved. Coach Gary Kirsten and the rest of the backroom staff deserve high praise for creating an atmosphere in which India's cricketers could relax and thus express their skills naturally. Sri Lanka might have fallen at the last hurdle, but much like Pakistan, it won fans for its cricket, its comportment, and its captaincy. But this was India's World Cup, and Dhoni's men were worthy winners of a well-staged tournament.
Keywords: India's World Cup triupmph, ODI, ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, Dhoni, Sachin, Yuvraj
Kudos to indian cricket team-Sachin and Dhoni for being perfect role model and showing exemplary leadership.Winning World cup for your country is really a dream come true considering performance of Indian team in previous World Cup in 2007.Indian cricket players handled the pressure well.They bonded well as a unit.They played upto their potential in batting,bowling and fielding.
Infact ,India reached semifinal in 1987,1996 and final in 2003.India can dominate world cricket in all formats by consistently performing at the top level.Dhoni seems to have midas touch winning 20-20 World Cup and now 50 over One day cricket world cup.
This is a response to Mr. Dwarakanath Srinivasan's comments: The world cup event is not huge loss of productive output as you have mentioned. Actually the output shifted from several areas to one main event - World Cup. Imagine the amount of revenue generated in Mumbai from visitors around the world from star hotels to small street vendors, thousands of people employed to assist this spectacular event in so many ways from preparation till end, sale of Indian flags to team shirts sold by street side vendors, I guess the sales of Indian flags must be the highest till date. The advertisement revenue from TV channels? All this is positive revenue generation to the country as whole. The revenue definitely increased multiple folds.
India is a vast country, one event cannot feed or reduce poverty and bring a change to society. It requires consistent policies to encourage low-income families to utilize benefits in this fast paced booming economy, all this can happen only with good dedicated civil servants implementing policies without corrupt officials and politicians.
A day of happiness, brought whole India together without race, religion and class, everyone celebrated with joy. India requires more of such events, which brings everyone together and show patriotism to their motherland!
My specific response is to Dwarakanath Srinivasan. Your comment is not really valid. All people, important or not important, need to have a balanced life so they can perform their duties well. Just because someone spends a day enjoying the match does not mean they have shirked their duties. So, get off it, and go enjoy what life has to offer. Work will always get done.
A hard earned World cup for Indian Cricket team.It's valuable in the sense of discipline,attitude,leadership,team work they've shown in the backdrop of game.This win should be taken as a token to impress and inspire the current generation in their day-to-day life.In contrast,what I have observed since a month and half in so called patriotic fans was,the support to the home team with a combination of anger and state of mind that was not in a position to accept the greatness of other teams no matter how well they play.Not only at stadia but also before TV sets and even at a discussion on game among people,most of them never retorted from booing and cursing opposite team's players just because they were considered better to counter the home team's dream of winning world cup.As if this isn't enough they even pray for their failure at critical moments in order to make inroads for own teams victory.Such a schadenfreudian attitude must be shed and their should be a respective attitude towards other players.One of my friend says,"The Term Patriotism is confusing,This Cricket Patriotism is double Confusing!!".It seems true these days and rocking of West-Indies bus is believing example.I fear what would've happened in case India lose.Fortunately that haven't.But I can say the same fans wouldn't behaved in the same way that they're now.At the end of the day,some one plays better than other and wins.This may not be the case always and therefore there is a need for fans to mature.Fans of Cricket(here) will sound better than Fans of a team.It always feels great of being a part of winning country but it shouldn't be at the expense of others loss.
The show of performance by the Indian squad is stupendous. The all round performance of Yuvraj, the cool performance of Gautham Gambhir, the captain's knock by Dhoni etc,. etc. paved the way for the dream coming true.
In beating the in-form Sri Lanka by comprehensively defeating it at Wankhede and claiming the World Title eluding India since 1983, the Team India has maintained its new-found team-spirit and winning streak since defeating the defending champions Australia. For India, it is a double-bonanza on international Cricket scene – first, this world cup will remain a parting gift for the little master – Sachin Tendulkar and secondly, this ends the Indian Cricket lovers’ wait for the cup. The young capable Indian Skipper Mahindra Singh can be proud of the achievement even as this emphatic win adds a large feather to the cap of his powerful captaincy. To the utter disbelief of the Indian Cricket devotees, the Team India has amazingly outplayed Sri Lanka by batting intelligently. Though the two early wickets of Sehwag and the Master Blaster dampened the spirits, a spirited Gambhir laid foundation for India’s win with his intelligent bating. The captain Dhoni at last played a captain’s innings superbly with cautious optimism and resurged spirit. The Indian bowlers did their best in restricting the Sri Lankan lions in the early overs which denied the visitors a challenging total of 300 plus. The highest wicket taker Zaheer Khan still remains an unsung hero of the World Cup 2011. Admittedly, the whole country is indebted to Dhoni’s Team India for securing the Cricket World Cup for India which has lifted the spirit as well as the morale of the 1210.2 million countrymen which was sagging for quite some time with so many scams and scandals in the media. At last, we have something to cheer about being an Indian. The young Team India has given us an opportunity to be cheerful about amidst the chaos.
The burning desire to win can beat all odds! Dhoni and his team correctly portrayed that where there's a will there's a way !! Kudos to the team !!
Congratulations Team India! You deserve really a full editorial compliment from 'The Hindu'.112 million people's prayer was answered. Ball to ball, I enjoyed the match every bit, but when? During the post catastrophic period of devastating Tsunami at our own Asian country, Japan, when tens of thousands of people were rendered homeless & hungry, when nuclear leak from atomic plants threatening not only Japan but the whole world, millions of our sub continental populations were fervently praying for their country's cricket victory. Mr. Cool has accomplished his mission. God Sachin has answered millions of his disciples. BCCI has been blessed with the waiver of 44 crores. Our government has magnanimously sent a team of about 50 rescuers to Japan.Now, will our Mr. Cool and cricket god, set a precedent by diverting a part of their income to the tsunami victims and let us, millions of their fans follow the suit?
Fantastic achievement, under great pressure, in front of the home spectators. The entire top most level of Indian citizens were watching eagerly along with commoners! The adulation Dhoni the Great in cricket sphere may not look out of place, i believe.
The Caption is very apt and is really an open ended statement. Behind this famous victory, is the capacity of the Generation Next to carry on the huge responsibility on their young shoulders. The capacity and the mental strength to handle pressure, at crunch situations and to come out unscathed is a telling comment on Dhoni's cool and calm exterior.
Even after hitting the winning shot, he remained unfazed and was only sporting a broad smile, while at the other end, Yuvi was drowning in an emotional pool .
Dhoni's innings reminded us of Clive Llyod's brilliant century in the first world cup, in a similar situation, with an ageing Rohan Kanhai as his partner. This march to a roaring success started when Ishant Sharma rattled Ricky Ponting, in their own backyard about three years ago. It has been a steady march from then on culminating in this famous win.
We are facing a situation where the likes of Yusuf Pathan, Rohit Sharma will go into oblivion without getting adequate opportunities. We are also facing the danger of losing Ashwin by promoting Yuvi as a front line spinner. Virendar Sehwag has once again, started throwing wickets despite his promise to stay for the full 50 overs. Saurav has rightly highlighted on this , during his comments.The only tinge of regret is that the Aam Admi is totally left out and unwanted on the cricket field,after seeing the Corporate stands, filled with the rich and the famous.
May be we need a reservation policy and quota for the general public in the sale of tickets in future tournaments.
Dhoni deserves praise not for doing all this for his nation, which he unwittingly has done, but for listening to his own intuition whenever it mattered most. It is his single minded trust on his own ability and on his own judgment that won us the cup. We need to salute a man that creates his own destiny. Let's not forget how he stands out as an individual that can galvanize a group into a trusting unit, and let's understand that first and foremost he is a fiercely competitive professional, not to be fooled by anything including patriotism.
Congratulations to team India for winning the World Cup.Simultaneously I was amazed with the people remark that they feel proud to be an Indian because Indian Cricket Team won the Cup.Is it because of the social status, media hype or do people really like the game? I wonder why dont the Indian's feel proud when Indian Soldiers fight for their nation or die in a border? Why don't they feel proud when Indian athlete, hockey player, tennis player etc get achievement in their respective field? Why it is all about cricket to feel proud of when the national game of the country is Hockey and their is no sponsorship for the team. If the Indians are really Proud to be Indian, are they ready to die for their nation or reform the country and wash away the corruption? To be proud of one's nation, one should have the guts to fight and not blame everything on politics and government. Cricket cannot be the means to be proud of India.
For once an editorial I would read again and again!
Not to demean your other erudite comments but the victory and the story of the team is so heartwarming. MS Dhoni united the large boisterous and diverse peoples of India into one indivisible bunch. As you rightly pointed out the team had many qualities that allowed it to raise its game when it mattered the most.
As a nation, we underestimate the value of sport. I hope the policymakers, journalists and our population in general realize the importance of sport as we all bask in glory of this victory. Statistics (albeit in other countries) show that crime goes down in places and times of good sporting tournaments, even school level ones. It can teach valuable lessons in life apart from promoting health and fitness. It can also unite people of diverse backgrounds and forge strong community ties. Mr. Manmohan Singh made good use of the opportunity and invited his Pakistani and Sri Lankan counterparts to help achieve his objectives. I hope he takes steps to improve the abysmal sports infrastructure in the country. And please, get the BCCI rid of all the political connections and make it a professional sports unit... or should we wait for the next scam or the next wikileak to get some action.
Dhoni lifted a few other things along with the World Cup. An appetite to win, clean and non-controversial behaviour on and off the field and pragmatic leadership. The occasion when Sachin walked while the umpire was not ready to rule him out and the following day Ricky Ponting holding his ground till the UDRS made him walk showed the high watermark of the spoortsmanship exhibited by the Indian Team.Now Dhoni and the boys cannot relax, the appetite has been vetted, we will want more of the same.
First, Hearty Congratulations to Team India! It is indeed gratifying to see that we won despite initial setback; we won as a united team and with one goal of winning the CUP for India. May the good work contiue for years to come.
If there is anything that is to be learnt from this victory, it is that we can win if we believe in our ability to meet any odd situation. Secondly, all the players have to immitate Sachin Tendulkar as regards disciplined and committed practice regimen; we have often heard about it but it is time rest of the players follow it as a religion.
Dear Editor: Hearty Congratulations to the world cup winning Indian team, to Mahender Singh Dhoni and all of the team members. Your editorial is appropriate. While the Indian cricket team deserves this honor and the subsequent accolades, one wonders whether India's fascination and addiction to the game is justified. Thousands and millions of people, from the illiterate daily wage earner to the highly educated have spent hours together glued to the television set. Can India and her citizens afford such a huge loss of productive output? Is this diversion away from reality into a make believe world really justified as an entertainment? Does this help our youngsters to come up in life? Beyond the chosen 11 who will be sought after with advertising endorsements and the officials with the BCCI which has capitalized on our weakness has anybody else become richer? Is our Union Agriculture Minister justified in spending time managing the mundane affairs of the cricketing body and hosting of this world cup when thousands or millions of our people are starving for a square meal a day or when millions of tons of food grains lie rotting in our granaries for lack of time planning and executing sound policies? Similarly is the UPA chairperson justified in spending time here when she needs to think, apply her mind and work out details of the food security act which would directly benefit our teeming millions? Or are these so called leaders content with escaping from reality and have deliberately chosen the easy way out?
India has done it and done it in style. The six off the last ball was a perfect closure to what can aptly be described as a roller-coaster ride for both players and fans alike. Team India started as favorites, saw a marginal dip in their fortunes during the league stage thanks to some patchy fielding and not so impressive batting, applied themselves hard to recover well during the quarters and semis and finally peaked as a unit in the world cup final to beat the Sri Lankans who did not seem to put a foot wrong until then. That the players succeeded in holding their nerves in some of the most critical moments of the game and under the pressure of the expectations of a billion plus population puts them in completely different league of sportspersons. The fact that the feat was accomplished even after Sachin and Sehwag got out early makes it even more special. This win shows how as a cricketing nation we have graduated from the minnows of 1983 to cricketing powerhouse of 2011. MS Dhoni deserves all the praise for leading the team from the front and guiding it to a glorious victory. The euphoria generated after the win also demonstrates the extraordinary power of cricket in this country. When 15 players hailing from different parts of the country and united under a common cause called cricket achieve the ultimate glory only to bring tears of joy in the eyes of a billion people, you know its not just cricket. It's a game that transcends all boundaries, all barriers and unites us all. It also gives us hope that we may be having many shortcomings and may be lagging behind many nations in different fields, but just as it has happened in cricket, it won't be long before we get our act together and emerge as unchallenged winners.
Please Email the Editor