COMMENT – For me the world cup starts today. It is a simple 12 day extravaganza where no slip is allowed. You have to be at your best for four days and you end up with the most coveted trophy in world cricket. What has happened over the last month has little consequence and all poor results will soon be forgotten if you have a good week starting today. And that tells me that India surely has a chance and a very good chance at that. Yes the skipper perhaps made a mistake by not bowling Harbhajan Singh in the last over in Nagpur, he surely got it wrong by not giving the sardar his full quota of overs after he had picked up three crucial wickets, he may indeed have given Ashwin a game in the early stages of the tournament but none of this really matters anymore.
India has just lost one tight game and given the format of the tournament nothing but credibility has been affected. Fans have lost a little bit of hope but one win will once again reignite their nationalist fervor. It is time to push home the point that nothing has been lost and India every bit a chance to win the tournament from here on as they had at the start. And there are many positives to draw upon. Just like in 2003 where India had one bad match against Australia and then went on to make the final so also perhaps in this edition. The bad match is over and the tide, hopefully, is all set to turn.
With the Chennai track offering substantial purchase for the spinners it is expected that India’s four pronged spin attack will surely have an upper hand against the West Indians. One win at Chennai and a lot of the areas of concern will have been addressed. Confidence, more than anything, will be back again and India will be all geared up for the business end of the tournament. For over two years now India has played consistently well in the 50 over format of the game. One bad match can hardly make the team a poor one. Rather, Nagpur was an aberration and it is time we forget the last few minutes and move on.
And it is here that the focus shifts back to Sachin Tendulkar. Of the five games played so far three have been against minnows. And in all these games Sachin Tendulkar hasn’t performed. But in the two big games against two of world cricket’s best teams, England and South Africa, he has scored two fantastic hundreds. He looks in ominous touch and wants this cup more than anyone in the world. That one shot in Nagpur summed it up. The ball was not very short. Tendulkar had rocked back in a flash, body position superb, eyes on the ball, the swivel just about perfect and the bat came down at the ball with brute force. As the ball sailed over the boundary one couldn’t but help remember a similar shot against Andrew Caddick at Durban in 2003.
That match had started India’s march in the 2003 world cup. Nagpur may not have done that but it has surely sent a few messages to other teams in the competition. That Sachin Tendulkar is yet again batting at his best and not everyday will India collapse the way we did at the VCA stadium.
With the quarter final line up almost decided it wouldn’t be totally out of place to predict that India, the country, will only breathe cricket in the next few days. Come four days and India will be battling for a place in the world cup semi-final in Narendra Modi territory in Ahmedabad. Scams and political issues will soon take a backseat as the world cup fever takes over.
And with Mohali waiting with bated breath, it can be conjectured that India will still be there come the 25th. This is a team that has rewritten history, come back from positions of adversity on several occasions in the past. It is time they do so once more, for one final time when it really matters the most. It is time for the skipper to step up and regain his midas touch. It is time for Sachin’s final hurrah. (Courtesy ESPN)
