T20 WC'24!

Today(when I am writing this blog) is 30th June 2024, one of the happiest mornings for all Indians, unlike the morning of 20th November 2023. From watching India lose on 19th to witnessing a historic win on 29th, it was a rollercoaster of emotions! An emotion that binds this country, its countrymen  and its diaspora too! The tournament was hosted in the USA and West Indies but the diaspora made sure that it did not feel like abroad, every match had so many enthusiastic Indians who showed up exactly like Indians do in India!!

 

Now this time let's start from the Professor who does not smile the entire semester/year but on the result day you finally see his million dollar smile, yes of course Rahul Dravid the coach of the Indian Cricket team who did a great job, was calculating something till the very last over in fact just before the last ball when we all knew the result, that's when he shut the calculation and the moment when he raised the trophy, the expression on his face was literally every teacher/professor/mentor/coach's expression after their student tops the exams! A well deserved win for a coach like him!!

 

The new faces of the team were a delight to watch, they have literally set a high bar in the very beginning of their respective careers. Their sixes, fours and running between the wickets was just gorgeous and the wickets that they took were just so charming. Surya Kumar’s epic catch is something we are going to remember for centuries to come, it was definitely the one where winds changed. They are the faces of Indian Cricket's future and we are going to see them more!

 

The bowlers were simply great, they have made this game even more interesting to watch than ever before. Boom Boom Bumrah was the player of the tournament, his economy and wicket taking skills are just another level. Arshdeep, Kuldeep and of course last but not the least, the one who delivered the best last over Hardik Pandya, a big thanks to them for keeping us hooked till the very last over!!

 

Virat Kohli actually saved the best for the last, his inning was like the cherry on the cake of his T20 cricket career. He saw the rest of the matches with us, but the last one was more than a compensation, we saw him playing the T20 world cup for that one last time, we witnessed history that will never repeat again (with Kohli playing). His open secret of retirement was better than the reveal, because now we are already missing him!

 

The captain of the ship, the man of the moment Rohit Sharma is a treat to watch, the entire tournament he literally pumped up our adrenaline. His half centuries in the T20 were enchanting! And his winning speech where he said it's not just one day but the 3-4 years behind that one day is a lesson to learn, that history to be made takes its own sweet time. But now we are dearly going to miss our favorites who announced their respective retirements yesterday, but we are happy that at the end it was a happy ending, God always has a plan and to have a conclusion like this you have to put your blood and sweat.

 

Last world cup we were unbeaten, so losing that one match hurt us a lot, this time again we were unbeaten but the fear of failure didn't haunt that much, as the Captain said we were already on the wrong side last time. Maybe sometimes failures make us resilient and fearless, as Roger Federer said in his recent commencement speech," The best in the world are not the best because they win every point, it's because they know they'll lose again and again, and have learned how to deal with it". And maybe we all have!

 

And how can I forget the common feature of both failure and success that is 'tears', it's really strange how in both these extreme situations in life tears come first and then everyone and everything else. Maybe they are the constant companions who witness everything first hand and come first to console in failure and to celebrate in success!

 

Congratulations Team India!!

PS: Every 19th November has a 29th June!!

 

Happy Reading,

 

Siddhi Bhosale.