India came into this 2015 World Cup as Defending Champions and not as favorites at all. They had lost everything on Australian soil. Hard 2 and half months, losing test series, losing ODI tri-series... Another 1 and half months of World Cup tournament was on cards. No one expected them to even qualify for the quarters. No one expected that we will continue the winning streak against Pakistan in World Cup.
All were JUST HOPING "World Cup Jeeto Ya Na Jeeto, Pakistan ke khilaaf toh Jeeto" (Win or lose world cup, don't lose against Pakistan)! Then we won against Pakistan at least. Played well under pressure, everyone said, we had started the campaign on winning note.
Then everyone stressed on the fact that India have never beaten South Africa in World Cup matches. And South Africans were "Favorites"!!! Well, we beat them by 130 runs! Remarkable isn't it? And yes, after this game people started believing in Team India. We started the #WontGiveItBack campaign strongly, everywhere! We then won easily against the less favorite teams like UAE, Ireland, West Indies comfortably. Though, against Zimbabwe we won coming out of very tricky situation. So 6 matches were gone, and we were table toppers!! Wow.... We had beaten every opposition in the group stage!!
Because we earned the place at the top of table, we earned a right to play against Bangladesh (qualified from other pool at number 4)!! People said we are lucky to play Bangladesh in the quarters. We weren't lucky, we earned that comfort by being pool toppers. And Bangladesh was playing well at that time, they had qualified by for the quarters by beating England! So it was certainly not a cake walk by any means. We had to work hard, thanks to partnership between Rohit and Raina that took the game away from Bangladesh, otherwise they were in with a great chance of booking a berth in Semi Finals. So we reached the Semi Finals... And we were ready to face the Mighty Australian team.
Started off well, then came Steve Smith and took the game away from us along with Finch, but our bowlers did came back pretty strongly taking some crucial wickets in quick time. At one stage they were looking good to make 350+ and suddenly they were struggling to get past even 300. Johnson and Faulkner scoring quick runs in the end helped Australia to get past 320. It required some serious batting to chase that down. And everyone was expecting Virat to play an exceptional inning as he has done many times. He failed very early to his 4 months long rival Mitchell Johnson. Other batsmen did also failed in the semi final as India lost by 95 runs.
So what "so called Indian Fans" do now. They make statements saying stuff like,
So did we really missed Yuvraj? My first question is in this match or in this World Cup?
I don't think we missed him at all! We won most of the 7 matches comfortably (to be noted) without Yuvi. And if you wanted him only for this match, then just go back and check your posts/jokes when India lost in the T20 World Cup final in Sri Lanka. I am sure most of you were there abusing him for the defeat. Instead of saying we should have done that, we should have selected Yuvi, why don't you feel proud of what this team has done in this World Cup. And if even Yuvraj had struggled you would have abused him! (No doubt he is one of the great players, but he is surely not a superman) Picking him in the team would have meant disturbing winning combination, and everyone had performed well till then!
About Kohli playing a reckless pull when the ball was well outside the off stump... There certainly would have been nerves of semi finals and expectations of over a billion fans that got Kohli and to support it was fast and fiery spell of Mitch Johnson. It had nothing to do with Anushka Sharma I am sure. People have gone on to say that we should boycott watching her movies and should throw stones at her house! She didn't bowl, bat or field, why are you targeting her!
Lot of people have started asking when Dhoni is retiring, will he be able to play the next world cup or not. Wow, isn't that too quick to react? Because of his inspirational captaincy we had earned a tag of favorites when we were only 'Defending Champions' to start with! The man , who hasn't meet his one month old daughter yet .. Seeing his red eyes and the tone in which he was talking at the post match presentation.... You got to feel for that Man. He gave his everything to defend the title.. We were just 2 steps away. That's how close we were.. And Dhoni's captaincy played a major role in it for sure.. And in India, we require to provide more security to his house just to protect from the so called fans...!! That's pretty disappointing !!
Positives---
We were not favorites because our bowling attack was below par they said... The support staff, Ravi shastri n MSD did well to inspire them, n the bowlers were able to take 77 wickets in 8 matches, that's incredible...
Our batsmen have gone on to a new level with everyone contributing.. We are now able to see beyond Virat Kohli for runs. Dhawan, Rohit, Rahane, Raina they all scored runs. And Dhoni is always there for you!
The outfielding.. It has been improving for a while.. But in this World Cup it was phenomenal.. We hardly dropped catches..
The captaincy... It was great before no doubt... But coming out of the situation where he was in, without meeting his first daughter, MSD did really well to achieve that feet.
Guys, No one wants to lose but at the end of the day you get only one winner. We played well throughout the tournament and did very well to defend the title. Many of you who forward jokes about cricket players you haven't represented your country that's why you don't know who it feels to be in that position and lose it.. They are surely dejected, they surely are disappointed, they surely must have cried...so they need your support now and so you should stop making fun of them. They tried their level best! ! But you have to admit that Australia were better oppositions today, playing in their own backyard. Credit to the whole team for the way they have responded to the job of defending the title.. And special thanks to the captain cool MS Dhoni for sacrificing Test Matches, for leading the way he has, for not meeting his first new born baby for 50 days and still reaching the Semis... Well done... I am with you MS DHONI and TEAM INDIA... Now and forever..
So here ends such a long post... I know many of you find it over commenting on the public reactions.. And I completely agree that the mentality of people won't change.. People will keep behaving the way they want to. So you can say this is my way of commenting.. And answering all your questions. I get hurt and angry when I read something against the team who has given their everything and don't find its the correct way of reacting to a loss.. But that's the way it goes ALWAYS!!
Just wanted to write off all my thoughts which were hovering around in my mind, so this one big post. Now feeling a lot more satisfied!! :)
THANKS FOR READING IT IF YOU REALLY HAVE! :)
Hope to get more support for our team India next time!!
All were JUST HOPING "World Cup Jeeto Ya Na Jeeto, Pakistan ke khilaaf toh Jeeto" (Win or lose world cup, don't lose against Pakistan)! Then we won against Pakistan at least. Played well under pressure, everyone said, we had started the campaign on winning note.
Then everyone stressed on the fact that India have never beaten South Africa in World Cup matches. And South Africans were "Favorites"!!! Well, we beat them by 130 runs! Remarkable isn't it? And yes, after this game people started believing in Team India. We started the #WontGiveItBack campaign strongly, everywhere! We then won easily against the less favorite teams like UAE, Ireland, West Indies comfortably. Though, against Zimbabwe we won coming out of very tricky situation. So 6 matches were gone, and we were table toppers!! Wow.... We had beaten every opposition in the group stage!!
Because we earned the place at the top of table, we earned a right to play against Bangladesh (qualified from other pool at number 4)!! People said we are lucky to play Bangladesh in the quarters. We weren't lucky, we earned that comfort by being pool toppers. And Bangladesh was playing well at that time, they had qualified by for the quarters by beating England! So it was certainly not a cake walk by any means. We had to work hard, thanks to partnership between Rohit and Raina that took the game away from Bangladesh, otherwise they were in with a great chance of booking a berth in Semi Finals. So we reached the Semi Finals... And we were ready to face the Mighty Australian team.
Started off well, then came Steve Smith and took the game away from us along with Finch, but our bowlers did came back pretty strongly taking some crucial wickets in quick time. At one stage they were looking good to make 350+ and suddenly they were struggling to get past even 300. Johnson and Faulkner scoring quick runs in the end helped Australia to get past 320. It required some serious batting to chase that down. And everyone was expecting Virat to play an exceptional inning as he has done many times. He failed very early to his 4 months long rival Mitchell Johnson. Other batsmen did also failed in the semi final as India lost by 95 runs.
So what "so called Indian Fans" do now. They make statements saying stuff like,
- We Missed Yuvraj Singh!
- Where was Kohli's attention!
- When is Dhoni RETIRING?!
So did we really missed Yuvraj? My first question is in this match or in this World Cup?
I don't think we missed him at all! We won most of the 7 matches comfortably (to be noted) without Yuvi. And if you wanted him only for this match, then just go back and check your posts/jokes when India lost in the T20 World Cup final in Sri Lanka. I am sure most of you were there abusing him for the defeat. Instead of saying we should have done that, we should have selected Yuvi, why don't you feel proud of what this team has done in this World Cup. And if even Yuvraj had struggled you would have abused him! (No doubt he is one of the great players, but he is surely not a superman) Picking him in the team would have meant disturbing winning combination, and everyone had performed well till then!
About Kohli playing a reckless pull when the ball was well outside the off stump... There certainly would have been nerves of semi finals and expectations of over a billion fans that got Kohli and to support it was fast and fiery spell of Mitch Johnson. It had nothing to do with Anushka Sharma I am sure. People have gone on to say that we should boycott watching her movies and should throw stones at her house! She didn't bowl, bat or field, why are you targeting her!
Lot of people have started asking when Dhoni is retiring, will he be able to play the next world cup or not. Wow, isn't that too quick to react? Because of his inspirational captaincy we had earned a tag of favorites when we were only 'Defending Champions' to start with! The man , who hasn't meet his one month old daughter yet .. Seeing his red eyes and the tone in which he was talking at the post match presentation.... You got to feel for that Man. He gave his everything to defend the title.. We were just 2 steps away. That's how close we were.. And Dhoni's captaincy played a major role in it for sure.. And in India, we require to provide more security to his house just to protect from the so called fans...!! That's pretty disappointing !!
Positives---
We were not favorites because our bowling attack was below par they said... The support staff, Ravi shastri n MSD did well to inspire them, n the bowlers were able to take 77 wickets in 8 matches, that's incredible...
Our batsmen have gone on to a new level with everyone contributing.. We are now able to see beyond Virat Kohli for runs. Dhawan, Rohit, Rahane, Raina they all scored runs. And Dhoni is always there for you!
The outfielding.. It has been improving for a while.. But in this World Cup it was phenomenal.. We hardly dropped catches..
The captaincy... It was great before no doubt... But coming out of the situation where he was in, without meeting his first daughter, MSD did really well to achieve that feet.
Guys, No one wants to lose but at the end of the day you get only one winner. We played well throughout the tournament and did very well to defend the title. Many of you who forward jokes about cricket players you haven't represented your country that's why you don't know who it feels to be in that position and lose it.. They are surely dejected, they surely are disappointed, they surely must have cried...so they need your support now and so you should stop making fun of them. They tried their level best! ! But you have to admit that Australia were better oppositions today, playing in their own backyard. Credit to the whole team for the way they have responded to the job of defending the title.. And special thanks to the captain cool MS Dhoni for sacrificing Test Matches, for leading the way he has, for not meeting his first new born baby for 50 days and still reaching the Semis... Well done... I am with you MS DHONI and TEAM INDIA... Now and forever..
So here ends such a long post... I know many of you find it over commenting on the public reactions.. And I completely agree that the mentality of people won't change.. People will keep behaving the way they want to. So you can say this is my way of commenting.. And answering all your questions. I get hurt and angry when I read something against the team who has given their everything and don't find its the correct way of reacting to a loss.. But that's the way it goes ALWAYS!!
Just wanted to write off all my thoughts which were hovering around in my mind, so this one big post. Now feeling a lot more satisfied!! :)
THANKS FOR READING IT IF YOU REALLY HAVE! :)
Hope to get more support for our team India next time!!
Pic courtsey- http://www.espncricinfo.com/
