Eye of the spectator: An emotional fan's roller-coaster journey with Indian cricket 

An earnest cricket fan always thinks one step ahead

Indian cricket fans are more knowledgeable

As an earnest cricket fan, I always felt my judgment about team composition, bowling changes, and decisions at the toss were way ahead of the players in the middle. Perhaps, sitting in the comforts of my living-room without facing the pressures of the match situation, I thought my decisions were more accurate than the skipper.

One such example to that was India’s World Cup semi-final match against Sri Lanka in 1996 at the Eden Gardens. When India won the toss in the crucial semi-final against Sri Lanka, the whole nation knew what India should do except the Indian Captain.

It was such a big blunder that one of the Indian openers playing in that match thought it was Sri Lanka who won the toss and decided to bat first. Conversely, it was India who sent them in to bat and awarded them the match in a platter at the toss. But that Kolkata encounter was an open –and- shut case.

There were other similar cases too when the fan pressed the panic button the moment the toss was done or the moment the playing XI was announced. He could smell that something had gone horribly wrong and the situation was beyond redemption. One such occasion was the recently concluded second Test match between India and Australia at Perth in the ongoing Test series.

M.S. Dhoni - The greatest Captain India has ever produced

Again, there were occasions when the earnest cricket fan was erroneous in his assessments. One such occasion was India’s T20 final against Pakistan in 2007. When Dhoni called upon Joginder Sharma to bowl the last over of the final with Pakistan needing 13 runs for a win. I had the apprehension that Dhoni got it wrong and the match could get over in 3 balls. When the second ball of the over disappeared into the crowd, I looked at my friend with ” I told you so” expression.

With 6 needed off 4 balls, I thought it was all over for India and I started organizing myself to blame Dhoni for the anguish. Then Misbah-ul-Haq did the unthinkable by going for the scoop shot against the slower pace of Joginder Sharma and the ball safely lobbed into the hands of Sreesanth at short fine-leg.

When Joginder Sharma won that match for India, I changed sides and started praising Dhoni for his masterstroke. At that time, I never knew that I was challenging the genius of Mahendra Singh Dhoni who would one day go on to become the most successful Captain India has ever produced. Dhoni became the only Indian Captain to win two World Cups for India, the T20 World Cup in 2007 and the 50 over World Cup in 2011