A Blue Sweep Brings India the World Cup

We won! It could have easily been anybody’s game. You win all your matches, lose none. And then play the final, it’s just not another game, it is the final. You must win this, too, or you have lost. In the 40 overs played in the final, there were the up and down moments for both teams. It was a closely fought game. Career diplomat, Sunil Lal, shares his top ten takeaways, given his passion for the game.

1. India’s historic win was a team effort with everybody playing to a plan. Three key persons are leaving on a high and need to be celebrated: Rahul Dravid the coach; Rohit Sharma the Captain; and Virat Kohli the former Captain. The team has star performers and tremendous bench strength. IPL has given India the edge in future T-20 tourneys as it has prepared Indian cricketers for the skill sets required to succeed in this format. Had India lost, the Choker tag could have been used for us and the Indian public would have looked for bali ka bakras. I suspect Jadeja and Pant would have found themselves at the receiving end. It’s good that sensible and seasoned stalwarts like Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma helmed this brilliant win. They stuck by Kohli and Virat who redeemed their faith in the final. Like Dhoni who fired when it mattered in 2011, Kohli fired in 2024 reinforcing the maxim: form is temporary; class is permanent. They silenced their critics and made the country proud. Jai Ho.

2. South Africa could not shake off the choker tag despite playing exceptional cricket. Markram was close to an Aiden WC victory. The team has Klassen and is going to win big sometime soon. Had Sky not taken the insanely spectacular catch to dismiss Miller; one never knows what could have been. South Africa can hold their heads up high for showing fighting spirit and all-round cricketing capabilities of the highest order. Hats off to them.

3. Boom Boom Bumrah was the standout bowler at this year’s T-20 World Cup and deservedly got the player of the series award. Full marks to him for the way he analysed players and conditions, and adapted to them. But one must also compliment Arshdeep, Hardik, Kuldeep, and Axar: for their sterling efforts as without their contributions, we wouldn’t have achieved our goal. India now has one of the most balanced and potent bowling attacks in T-20 cricket. Axar aisa nahin hota hai! Hardik Pandya deserves special mention for contributing significantly with both bat and ball.

4. Afghanistan’s brilliant performance to reach the S/F on the back of wins against teams like NZ, Australia, and Bangladesh mark them out as a cricketing force to reckon with. Gurbaz was the highest run getter and Farooki the highest wicket taker in the tournament along with Arshdeep. They have earned the right to be taken seriously as a cricketing nation that can compete with the best. Bravo Afghanistan, we know you can Trot out more famous wins going forward. They Khan only get better in cricket as Rashid is still a young and dynamic Captain.

5. USA entering the super 8’s after defeating Pakistan and Canada showed that diaspora talents could take on strong teams if the wicket favoured bowling sides. But did being co-host result in making cricket popular enough in the US for it to take off? One would not think so as the US team couldn’t compete against the better teams at the Super 8 stage. The fighting 18 run loss to South Africa was creditable but crushing defeats by England and the West Indies meant that they were back to square one. Lack of basic ground facilities at Florida showed that the Americans have a long way to go before cricket is taken seriously as a spectator sport. Diaspora inductees cannot take the US to the next level but will probably remain a motley group that can cause occasional surprises. Unless cricketers in the US can earn big money, there is hardly any possibility that the best talents will take to this game. To some extent, the West Indies faces a similar problem as cricket is not a paying proposition and their best sportsmen are looking for greener pastures elsewhere in sports like athletics, American football, baseball, and basketball.

6. Australia, the traditional cricketing powerhouse, failed to make the S/F perhaps on account of complacency against Afghanistan. Having won the toss, they chose to put Afghanistan in to bat on a difficult wicket and paid the consequences. In our game with them, Rohit’s 92 in 41 balls was enough to sink Australia after others contributed to take the score past 200. It would have been a travesty if Australia had succeeded in the chase as the Indian team deserved that win. Bumrah got the prized Head with a slower one that ballooned into Rohit’s hands. Poetic justice, one would say. Australia had a bad T-20 World Cup but not much should be made of their below par performance as they have too much talent and resolve to bounce back. We can see Australia Cummins back strongly.

7. Pakistan had a close game against India but couldn’t finish it off. Blame it on Rizwan or credit Bumrah with awesome bowling to take his wicket. The supremely talented Pakistanis seem to be unable to play like a team. The shocking defeat to USA came due to a difficult pitch that favoured the bowling side. But Pakistan is by far the better bowling side and inexplicably couldn’t beat the Americans. When two games got washed out due to rain Pakistan was left ruing its two losses. A quick end to the tournament for Pakistan who were easily expected to reach the super 8 stage and possibly the semi-final. Pakistan’s cricket administration must take a serious look at player management issues and perhaps need a good therapist that can help the players bond for a common cause.

8. England: The defending champions played cricket that veered from the sublime to the ridiculous. Mercifully for India they reserved their worst for the S/F and were knocked out. At one point it looked as if Scotland would pip them to the super 8 post with a victory over Australia but the Aussies managed to win in the last over. A team like England cannot be depending on other favourable results to make it to the next round of a WC specially when it is supposed to be comfortably in the top league. Like Australia, England has cricketing pedigree and cannot be written off in future cricketing events. But they need to get their T-20 act together when it comes to the knock out stages.

9. New Zealand not making the Super 8s was unexpected though it didn’t do India’s chances any harm given that they have a very good track record against us. Afghanistan and West Indies went through from NZ’s difficult group leaving them to rue their dismal batting against the Afghans and their narrow defeat to the West Indies. All three countries have key players playing the IPL and would have known each other’s strengths and weaknesses. NZ failed to put their plans into practice and were unable to give their champion bowler Trent Boult a memorable send off. New Zealand had a forgettable T-20 WC and need to rebuild a young and fearless team more suited to the new requirements of this format.

10. Sri Lanka was in the group of death with South Africa, Bangladesh, Netherlands, and Nepal as the other teams in their group. Their advancing to the Super 8 stage boiled down to the lost match against Bangladesh which they should have won. Of late Sri Lankan cricket has been going through a lean patch and are in need of an overhaul. From time to time there have been exceptional players in the SL XI who have been world beaters but the present cricketing scene doesn’t look very bright. One hopes they will bounce back as they are a talented bunch of cricketers who are only a little short in confidence.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ambassador Sunil Lal alias Mickey retired in 2017 after stints as Ambassador in Spain and Brazil. He is a cricket buff like almost all Indians and is happiest when India wins! And if India doesn’t win, he can be as cantankerous as any other Indian in doing a post mortem of the causes for our loss.

 


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