Time to Repeat History!

24^th March 2010, a day so important for more than 1,400,000,000 people to witness whether their chosen 11 were at their best or not to make it special for the rest. Playing against Australia, 4-Times World Champions; it wasn't going to be a cakewalk every one of us knew....Sometimes, I just look in awe & wonder that a country, whose population is less than the double of Mumbai, has achieved so many milestones in cricket and on quite a very few occasions other teams have been successful in stopping them.

We Indians are very emotional when it comes to cricket, we want to win, and just win, no matter what. If our men fail, we always show it every way possible that we are upset. Now if someone who is off the field feels so depressed in witnessing these things; think of those on the field, what must be going through their minds. ‘Aaj agar haar gaye toh, sab khatam’. They say, History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce. 23^rd March 2003, World Cup Finals, the story was 8 years old but still wasn’t an easy one to forget. This fear was always on our minds & at such moments you aren’t really fighting the opposition, you are fighting with yourself. Whether it creates history or it doesn’t, you don’t really give a damn.

A lot of us have raised eyebrows about how good Dhoni has been to the team as a batsman, as a captain after losing some ‘easy’ games in this world cup. But you must agree that had it been not MSD, we wouldn’t have been able to restrict the Aussies to 260. Unlike the other times, we didn’t concede a lot of runs in the last overs of the game. And Boss.......You gotta have a lot of guts when you decide to start the mandatory powerplay with a spinner, especially when you have the likes of Shane Watson, Brad Haddin at the crease. That 'Sticking to a Plan & Intuitive Strategies' makes him what he is. He hasn’t been able to do much with the Bat this time, but he at least has ensured every now and then that we sail through and that’s what matters!

When you have someone in his career best form, there is nothing you can do about it than to just watch him play with his heart, soul & with the blessings of Billions. Sach(in) was becoming the pain in the A(u)ssies. He placed India in a good position with his half century. His fall was a crucial moment of the match because we all know that most of the times; Sachin is followed faster to the Dressing Room than on the Ground....! We all just hoped that this just wasn't one such day. We now had ‘2 Dilli de Munde’ on the ground. They kept going, slowly but steadily. Virat fell eventually; Yuvi walked in, knocked the first ball to the boundary! Yuvraj has been on a dream run in the world cup. He has scored for India in crunch situations in the past. Though the miscommunication and the poor run out of Gambhir almost silenced the Nation, Yuvraj didn't seem to be losing it. Raina, had just played one game in the world cup, but the way he vouched on to score was amazing! The master piece was when he hit Brett Lee to a Six straight down the ground on the very first ball of his over. If I am not exaggerating, at the end, Yuvi and Raina looked as happy as the soldier who hoisted the Indian flag on peak of the Hill in the Kargil War. And why wouldn't they be? It was the 4-Times World Champions that they had forced to Surrender.

But wait, this isn’t The End; Pakistan is waiting to be washed out by us! They completely realize that they might have had wins followed by wins till now but Men in blue are the biggest gatecrashers! At this point of time, nobody gives a damn if we don’t go on to win The World Cup. ‘You Beat Pakistan; we’ll love you for it!’ This is an emotional wish we all have which even Dhoni agreed to after beating Australia. This is what happens when we see ourselves in a battle against Pakistan.

But think again……..Is it really just that now? The God has waited long for this moment; Sachin deserves not just a win against Pakistan, but holding on to the world cup as well. We owe him a lot and there can’t be anything more magnificent to thank him with. Dear Men in Blue, it’s time to repeat the history, it’s time to bow down to the master in respect, it’s time you give him what he truly deserves, its time you put an end to the test of his patience; so that one day, the whole country will remember you because on 2^nd April 2011, no one can be happier holding the world cup but him! Let’s play for a cause, let’s play to rewrite History in Passion. Go Team India, go! :)