by Rajat Subhra Chatterjee
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In winning the CWC ‘23 for the sixth time after their monumental success stories in 1987, 1999, 2003, 2007 & 2015, Australian cricket has proved beyond doubt that they are truly World Cricket Champion. Having bagged the ICC Test Championship Trophy again beating India in the finals in 2023, Pat Cummings naturally can utter that it’s been a glorious year for them. Indeed, Australia has re-affirmed their supremacy in cricket. Remember, India reached ICC Test Championship Finals both times and failed as they have been failing in many finals during last decade.
In retrospect, it is useless now to be wiser after the show, yet it will continue to haunt cricket connoisseurs why India lost out in the final having performed seamlessly throughout the tournament carving 10 in 10, faltering ultimately in the final !
It happens. It happens when Head comes first and Heart comes second. South Africa often is being labeled as chokers. But there is no bigger choker than Indian cricket team!! In 2003 Cup, Sourav’s team also performed nicely, and reached finals against Australia. But right from the start in that final, wrong decisions one after the other did the damage. Winning the toss, opting for fielding against a strong Australian batting that boasted Hayden, Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting, Damien Fleming and all it was suicidal. More so because, Zaheer Khan and Srinath got over excited and their heads came before their hearts and started bowling miserably, conceding huge runs in the first couple of overs, in the process, loosing complete grip over their bowling.
Jump Cut, 20 years later, India cruised along so well and reached the finals but they had their Heads first before their Hearts in the final. Right from the beginning, Indian batters were under pressure created by their over excitement and had no plan B for rectification. Else, how can one explain the madness of Rohit Sharma, having taken 10 runs in that fateful Maxwell over, could attempt another six ? The brilliant catch by Travis Head, not withstanding, this madness alone was primary reason for India’s defeat as that rashness of Rohit brought out the entire tension that was existing in Indian camp.
This defeat, in the wake of many other defeats in Finals of ICC tournaments, Cricket is destined to take back seat in India as now this is established that India would choke again should there be another final in the offing. The catch that was taken by Head off Rohit was possible as this needed a huge heart apart from skill which set the ring tone for Australia as their out fielding started getting from good to superb. That created huge pressure on India on a slow batting wicket. While India failed to make any diagnosis on criticality of Australia’s, in turn, Australia worked out detailed study on each Indian batters and attacked in that line. It was just not one bad day in office. It was total and full eclipse of Indian cricket that choked on the most important evening. This will take some time to get eased in the system.
Yet, even after this, fans will watch IPL, they will go for watching cricket. Why not ? After all India was playing so well till the finals. Nothing looks to be lost fully. Only plan B or plan C should be in place should there be a catastrophe yet again. One defeat can not create complete vacuum, though it will continue to hurt millions of hearts. Else, Brazil’s loss to Germany 1-7 would have put a full stop to football in Brazil. On 19th November, 2023, Australia played better brand of cricket and won the CWC. That’s it.
However, Indian cricket team in the process of playing such fine cricket, has been an eye opener giving birth to a myth of unity, in a country with so much diversity in religion, caste and creed. Team India could show case what unity could do. Rohit Sharma sounds North Indian but comes from Mumbai. Shreyas Iyer originally from Kerala but hails from Maharashtra. K L Rahul is from Mangalore. Hardik Pandiya from Gujarat, Surya Kumar and Kuldeep Yadav are from UP while Ashwin is a Tamil Brahmin. Rabindra Jadeja and Shardul Thakur are Rajputs but domiciled and play for different states. Likewise, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli and Bumrah are Panjabis but play for different states. While Prasidh Krishna is from Karnataka, Md. Siraj is from Telengana and Md. Shami comes from UP but plays for Bengal. It is Republic of India !
When a team is so ethnically defused it can not be rumored that this team does not stand for any one, rather, it is evident that the team stands for everyone. This Indian cricket team is the cleanest replica of an ideal assembly. In a country, where almost everyone is looked upon with suspect on morale intervention, this Indian cricket team looks to be a seamless harmony and can easily get certification in terms of Total Quality Management. ( TQM) . Mind you, this is an achievement as India ranks otherwise horribly in the World’s corruption list.
Concluded…
