There were so many beautiful aspects of the victory
- A captain's innings by Dhoni who thumped an awesome six (perfect to burn into our memory) to seal an emphatic victory.
- We defeated the last 3 world champions en route to bliss
- Sachin finally wins a world cup, on his home ground nonetheless
- Virat and Raina made it count when it mattered most.
- The heartwarming scene when everyone hoisted Sachin on their shoulders and ran a lap of honor.
- Virat's statement of an era: Sachin's carried the hopes of an entire nation for 21 years, I think it's time for us to carry him on our shoulders.
Having played a lot of cricket when I was younger, I was tired of seeing us reaching the edge and falling off, instead of flying up. We always lacked the character and the fighting spirit. The real change in Indian cricket happened with the historic Test win over Australia at Eden Gardens. Laxman completely turned around a 5 day game over the strongest ever Australian and world teams. It was a seemingly impossible win, showing off a spirit that was never seen before. Harbhajan Singh bowled magically. Ganguly was the first radical Indian captain who dealt with the responsibility like a majority shareholder in a company - all he wanted to do was make India the most successful team in the world.
Dhoni seems to have acknowledged and inherited all the good things that Ganguly did - not afraid of rotating bowlers in unconventional ways, pick the player he felt was needed for India to win irrespective of which region the player was from, manage the men in the dressing room, plot a plan for every game, encourage and back young players even if they went through bad phases. In addition, Dhoni was able to add and override (using OOP terminology again) other important aspects like acknowledge the weaker points of the team and not afraid to make the playing 11 flexible and most importantly - the dressing room atmosphere is one of respect, love and positivity.
One of the most amazing things about Dhoni is that he trusts his team to do the right thing in every game. For eg., he was never visibly upset when Harbhajan threw 5 wides against Australia in the end or when Munaf and Nehra didn't bowl any yorkers. During a game, he never micromanaged. I think that's an extremely difficult thing to do. The ability to trust your men for the job and make
Cricket is a marvelous catalyst for unity in a country which is vast and incredibly diverse. No matter what, that fact has to be acknowledged and every Indian cricketer needs to remember that and understand why it's tied to patriotism.
Where can I get an Indian team jersey?
