Dreams fulfilled!

After thirteen long years of wait, India has finally won a World Cup cricket final. The entire nation is exuberant with joy. All the players of Team India need to be complimented and felicitated for their excellent performance. Last year, the team performed brilliantly in the one-day cricket World Cup. They won all their matches until the agonising heartbreak in the finals. The slumped and tearful figure of captain Rohit Sharma made the entire country weep. Barely nine months after that, Rohit Sharma has led the Indian team to a great World Cup victory. There are tears again, but those of joy.

India once again galloped to the finals without losing a match, but so did South Africa. The finals had all the potential of being an exciting, pulsating, and nerve-racking affair. The whole of India was keeping its fingers crossed. India won the toss and elected to bat, and the cricket pundits opined that it was a good batting wicket. India started off beautifully with Kohli sending Jansen to the ropes thrice in the first over, and then Rohit followed with two consecutive fours. So far, so good, but then suddenly there was a dramatic change in the situation. Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, and Suryakumar Yadav were back in the pavilion with only 34 on the board. The sinking feeling had begun to set in. Virat Kohli had not batted well throughout the tournament, but as the adage goes, "when things get tough, the tough get going." Kohli put his head down and played a masterly sheet anchor role by making 76. Deservedly, he was declared the man of the match. On the other end, captain Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid made a masterly decision and sent in Axar Patel ahead of other batsmen. The decision paid off, and Axar launched into an aggressive 47 and rebuilt the Indian innings. Shivam Dubey also did his job, and India reached 176. One could not suppress the feeling that India was 20 runs short of what could have been a sure-shot winning score. Things were now evenly balanced, and it could be anybody’s game.

Bumrah is easily the best fast bowler in business, and Arshdeep complemented him well. South Africa lost two early wickets. De Kock and Stubbs stabilised things for South Africa, but India dismissed them at the right time. At this stage, it was advantage India. Then came Klaasen, who blasted the Indian spinners all over the park and, in the company of David Miller, wrested the match out of India’s hands. Thirty runs were required off thirty balls, and it all looked so easy for South Africa. But this Indian team has tremendous self-belief. They still felt they could win, and it showed in their intensity.

Hardik Pandya lured Klaasen into nicking one behind to the wicketkeeper, and Klaasen left after scoring a brilliant 52. This was the moment when the initiative had to be seized, and there was nobody better than Bumrah to do this. Two magnificent, unplayable overs from Bumrah and the wicket of Jansen put South Africa on the back foot. The 19th over bowled by Arshdeep was also economical, and South Africa were left to get 16 in the last over. Not easy, but David Miller was there, and we all knew that Miller could really hit.

Hardik Pandya confidently lumbered up to bowl the last over. David Miller went for a big one off the very first ball, and the well-struck ball went like a rocket toward the boundary. A six at this stage would have taken the match out of India’s hands. At the boundary, Suryakumar Yadav had different ideas. He took the catch of the century, making old-timers like me remember the catch taken by Kapil Dev in the 1983 World Cup final to dismiss Vivian Richards. He showed great anticipation and presence of mind, and the match swung India’s way. People will talk about this catch for years. It was like catching the World Cup. The next five balls went by without anything unprecedented happening, and Pandya kept his cool. Pandya did not let the occasion get to him and bowled a tidy over. India won by seven runs, and the World Cup was theirs. Full credit must go to the captaincy of Rohit Sharma and the strategising of Rahul Dravid. Each player performed to his potential. It was a happy team, and happy teams succeed. The entire nation was out in the streets dancing with joy. It was indeed a great tribute to the inspiring leadership of Rohit Sharma. Most of his teammates have waxed eloquent about how Rohit spoke to them before the match and said that he alone would not be able to climb the mountain and needed the entire team to pull together. His open and agreeable personality was just the right kind of leadership that the Indian team needed.

Rohit, Virat, and Jadeja announced their retirement from T-20. We will miss them, but they gave us great moments of joy and made the country proud. Farewell, heroes. The good thing is that India has a backup of promising players to make the future as bright as the present. We have Shubman Gill, Yashaswi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Abhishek Sharma to fill in the first three slots. There are many others knocking at the doors. India has a lot of reserve firepower, but it will be difficult to replace the greats who are retiring. One hopes that the new leader will continue to instill the spirit of resilience, determination, and self-belief in the team.

The writer is an ex-Chief Secretary, Govt of Uttar Pradesh. Views expressed are personal