INDIA: journey from 1983 to 2011.

In 1983 the Indian team was not a tough competitor for the World Cup. In the likes of West Indies and Australia, India was considered as a laggard. But against all expectations coming to limelight this Indian brigade had soon forgotten its past and was seen blooming with its promising future, well why not……they were World Champions now….!

In those conditions among tough contenders like West Indies, Australia, England India was able to deliver and shine out with its excellent cricket because each player gave his best. They acted as a ‘United 11’ .The team was balanced. They enjoyed the essence of the game and tried to keep its value high. Their indefatigable spirits and exceeding hard work didn’t go unprized. They won the title of ‘World Champions’ and with it a million hearts. There high spirits kept their morale boosted and this team was now being counted among the best…!

Slowly one saw the entrance of young lads among the team, prominent among them being Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble. Who knew that would soon become the backbone of Indian cricket and remain so for over a decade. Now Indian battinf and bowling was good , the only area of concern being ‘fielding’ which was still nowhere in competition to that of South Africa and Australia. This period visited the dominance of Australia over World Cricket. The next big turn came when Saurav Ganguly was appointed as the Indian captain. The team was revived with new spirit and enthusiasm as appeared from its successful performances. One saw improvements in all the three fields of cricket. New talents like Sehwag, Yuvraj, Kaif and Zaheer got a place in the squad. This period saw Indian fielding at a completely different level with men diving around for everything . A couple of series wins with some being clean sweeps brought India to number 2 in ICC rankings and earned ganguly the title of “India’s most successful captain”. India won many series overseas remarkable among them being ‘Nat-West’ series. India also reached the 2003 World-Cup finals where it was beaten by the mighty Australians and it had to remain contended being the runners-up.

In the next arena following the World Cup one saw the growth of Politics in Indian cricket with the removal of Saurav Ganguly as Indian Captain and consequently from the team. One also saw some upcoming talents in faces of Gambhir and Irfan Pathan becoming the national heartthrob for a while.In this arena of coach G. Chappel India visited a experimental stage with experiments going in both batting and bowling departments……..which had a seriously negative impacts on many players. India seemed to have not fared well under this new Coach as is evident from its quick exit from 2007 World Cup and a couple of series losses along with the degraded form of players.

Next one saw the evolution of “Young and Sturdy” team India under the leadership of ‘Captain Cool ‘ M.S. Dhoni. In the absence of the experience of the Indian trio Sachin , Saurav and Dravid and the able guidance of Kumble this team was considered weak and fragile. But against all expectations this team started off with a ‘boom’ winning the first-ever T-20 World Cup.

This team is now being called as the best ever Indian team with a mixture of both experience and agility. Experience in form of Sachin, Sehwag ,Zaheer and Harbhajhan along with the power and speed of the youth this team was able to break the dominance of Australia over World Cricket.

But the present Indian performance can be viewed as a one man affair since only one man is able to deliver in a game either be Sachin or Sehwag or Yusuf Pathan . From the past couple of matches it is evident the the complete team has been unable to deliver. But still it is considered to be the most tough contender for this World Cup and let’s hope it comes out being victorious.