Thank You Team India

Today, World Cup Cricket 2015 ended for us. We lost to Australia in Semi Final, and are out of game. I am not going to analyze the game, and provide insight on why we lost, and what we could have done better. Every cricket fan knows what went wrong, and everyone has opinion, suggestions and what not, about how we could have won. So, there is no point writing about it. 

I am going to write about my feelings, and good feelings, proud feelings about our team. The Indian cricket team. The M S Dhoni and his boys in Blue! They lost the game, but won our heart! The overall performance in this tournament by our team was outstanding. They came as a weak team, and no one was even ready to accept that they will reach Quarter Finals. I remember, their first game was with Pakistan, and we were wishing for that one match win. No one was expecting team India to defend their title. This was because of their recent bad performance in Australia. The team was not at all in form, and was losing matches like anything. They just lost to Australia in test cricket.

But, what they started with their first game against Pakistan was astonishing, and to everyone’s surprise, that performance and roaring victory over victory continued, matches after match, till it ended in Semis. 

We repeated history when we defeated Pakistan, and we changed history when we defeated South Africa. The team played like winners, hunted the opponents in packs, getting them all out in every match. Yes, we got all wickets in each of our matches, again, only till Semi Final. Here, we lost out to Australia by giving away all of our wickets, we got all out.

We would be much happier if they would have won, and played in Final against New Zealand, and won the World Cup again, for the third time. But we are not sad, we are still happy. The performance our team gave us, and the way we won all the matches, was enough to entertain us, make us happy, and feel good about cricket. 

With all these overdose of cricket in the name of IPL, many people have lost interest in watching or getting regular update on matches. Obviously World Cup is not IPL, but there are people who were not interested even in watching the matches, knowing that India will lose out in first round itself. But all this changed from the first match of India. Then from second match onward, we actually started believing that we can win this time. This trust on our team came only after their performances. The way they were wining were not just ordinary wins, it was hunting down to the last man standing, and team work, which lead us to believe on the entire team, not just individuals. 

Now, they lost in Semi Final, but they lost to a better team. Our team was good, but they were better, and this is a game, so one has to lose the game. But thank you Dhoni, thank you men in blue, thank you team India, for all of your performances, for entertaining us in this World Cup, which otherwise would have been faded away in memory like another small event. 

Not all was bad from this lost match. There were people predicting that India will surely be going to Final, and every match of India is fixed. They quoted the reason for this is sponsorship money, which is coming from India and the sponsors ensured that Indian people keep engaged till final. I tried very hard, but could not believe on this Conspiracy Theory. How all participating countries can agree to such kind of fixing? Now, with this lost game in Semi Final, the World Cup is over for India. We do not have any plan to watch the Final on Sunday. We will just read about the result later. So, it’s a relief for me that this Conspiracy Theory was proved wrong, and India is actually out of World Cup in Semi Final. The satisfaction is due to prove fact that journey to Semi Final by India was not fixed, and whatever we enjoyed was not a staged show, but real performance by our boys in blue. 

And how can I not mention the famous ad campaign by Start Sports, “Mauka Mauka”, which acted as fuel in fire within our heart for wining. It started with India vs Pakistan, and continued till Quarter Finals. These were very innovative, and very entertaining. 

After we defeated Pakistan, again, the second ad surfaced, showing that we have always lost to South Africa in World Cup. 

Then the below series of ads entertained us match after match, and it was not just the match we talked about, we talked a lot about these ads as well. As soon as we win one match, another ad was released posting the next challenge. These were funny, entertaining and thoughtful. One of these even shows our arch rival Pakistan supporting us, because if we win, they can go to Quarters. 

So, once again, I thank you Dhoni, and I thank team India. I have posted a smaller version of whatever I have written above on my FB page today. I am ending this article by reproducing the same here. 

“The World Cup journey of India was good while it lasted. All their opponents were all out in all the matches so far. Today the table had turned and India got all out. But I have to admit, we never expected the enjoyment we had with India's journey in this world cup. Just before the tournament started, it was a weak team and no one was expecting them to even reach Quarter Finals. But the journey started with a bang and India remained unbeaten with taking all wickets of opponents in each match, till today. Like all good things come to an end, India is out of World Cup and the tournament is over for Indians. We have to focus on local sports now. Don't worry; I am not talking about Kabbadi like Salman Khan. I am talking about IPL which is coming up. 

Then there were few people with Conspiracy Theory, who predicted that India will win Final or at least reach Final because of sponsors. Not sure how their will justify this loss. Basically this defeat has also proved that World Cup is not WWE. I really enjoyed all matches of India. Today, Australia was equal match for India. We lost to a team who performed better than us. I am not happy and would have enjoyed the Final with India on Sunday, but would like to thank Dhoni and team for all the wins in this tournament. You win some, you lose some. Move on, focus on next match, there is cricket after World Cup and then there is IPL.”