Stupid Faith

Faith can become a shroud of stupidity that will make you believe that things will become right some day - I confess, my impatience is stopping me to have faith in anyone other than myself. I know! Life can be hard - hard to that extent where all sacrifice, blood, sweat and tears seem to get wasted, pulling you down to some point of no return. But I am a born fighter and I don't give a damn of what others think of me - but this very fact gives me rubber knees when I think of raising my daughter in this bad bad world.

Hit by Blues.

Bleed Blue for Team Blue

Yesterday, on April 2, 2011, Dhoni, Yuvaraj, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, and Ashish Nehra were amongst those who lifted the world cup of 2011.It was hard to hold back the tears as I remember that all of them were part of the real bad phase in 2007 world cup, where they did not even qualify for the quarter finals. The enraged fans even attacked the houses of some players. Now… this is an inspiring story of rising as a beaming Phoenix from the ashes with hard work, determination, persistence, blood, sweat and true grit – all these prepared the team to win the match after 28 years of long wait. I must say the spectators did a wonderful job of being the best support system a home team can ever ask for in such a crucial match. This team we see today is not a flawless one, but a bunch of individuals who had a strong passion for this game and the unstoppable urgency to win – no matter what others thought of them, they were refusing to stop until they held the world cup, which was like their elixir to life.

I had almost lost hope on our team when the wickets after Sachin fell down as a hopeless pack of cards in a match against South Africa within just 29 runs, which made many believe that the middle and tail order batsmen cannot be relied upon. Many of us gave up on them, but importantly, the team didn’t give up on their focus or their abilities to win the cup– the most beautiful lesson to be learnt here.

The first over by Sreesanth in the final match made many of us slap our foreheads. When Sachin and Sehwag returned to the bench and the team score was a meager 32, the stadium almost went dead silent – a lot of disappointed faces, chants and prayers. But, the team was fighting it out carefully ball by ball

Four wickets later and at a 200 plus total after 40 overs, every Indian fan was looking at the two young faces of Indian cricket on the pitch – one of them being our supercool captian who was still ubercool, inching every doosara and teesra any Malinga had to offer. We got a tough opponent, but it was indeed our day – the day for which cricket enthusiasts all over the country waited from years.

The ground support was commendable: no boos, no distractions – just undying passion, hope, and cheers that rocked the ground for every boundary. When the rival team was presented with their medals, the ground echoed with cheers and claps of appreciation – wow! This also reminded me of that embarrassing world cup semi-final match in 1996 where the Srilankan team had to face the wrath of the unruly mob of Eden Gardens because India was loosing the game – the crowd at Wankhade stadium gave them the much-needed respect.

Sachin’s humble and radiant smile was unforgettable and the joyous tears of the support staff and team members created some of the most golden heart-warming moments of this World Cup. Many of them did not forget to mention the bad times they had to wade through to reach here, especially Yuvaraj, who made his critics to bite the dust with his top-notch performance. Hats off to the team coach Gary Kristen and his support staff who molded this team. Let the celebrations continue! Let our passion bleed blue!