Cricket has been played at the highest level by practically 8 teams, and from the last decade or two, only 6 teams with West Indies and New Zealand lost in the fog. It was a must for West Indies to win this cup to re-establish the cricket in the country that was slightly in jeopardy after seeing so many disappointments for a long time. World cricket needs more competitive teams, not just 8, but at least 14-16 to make it really a global game. West Indies may have taken the first step not only for their country, but probably for the whole world.

Their chase of the World Cup dream started on a terrible note, with the scorecard reading 2 for 1 after first 3 overs, with only 1 run out of 2 being scored from the bat, and for more surprises, it wasn’t from Gayle’s bat. Then, the ‘big fish’ Gayle also got out in the first 6 overs with scorecard reading 14 for 2. This time, they had a very slow start and didn’t have Gayle to convert it in a good finish at the end. After 10 overs, the score was 32 for 2, and  the West Indies looked nowhere near to fulfilling their dream, and then, it was time for ‘marvelous’ Samuels to come in and rescue the West Indies. He took the complete responsibility on his shoulders alone, blasting Malinga for 39 of the 11 deliveries. He probably played the innings which will show the world how determined he has come back after the two-years ban. He finished at 78 off 56 in the 18th over, because of his wicket, West Indies finished probably 15-20 short, but a very good total after that horrible start.

It was the easiest of the targets for Sri Lanka, chasing 138 to win the world cup, especially after seeing the English Women team almost chasing down the target of 143 against Australia in the afternoon. Some magic was needed for the West Indies to boost the whole team. It was provided by Rampaul, getting Dilshan bowled with the ‘ball of the tournament’. Sangakkara and Mahela took it easy from there, they tried to take singles and did not use the ‘hit hard and get out’ approach. But, probably they played to the occasion and not the actual game, which meant asking rate kept going up, though a low target to chase. And finally when it needed the big guns to start stroking the big shots, Sangakkara fell to Badree, and then in span of another 21 runs, next five also came and went, including the captain. West Indies already started celebrating, but Kulasekara, for a moment interrupted their fun. With some help from Rampaul due to wayward bowling, Kulasekara raised the hopes of the crowd again with 22 runs in the 16th over. But Narine came for his 3rd over to stop the slight chance of a Sri Lankan fightback. And finally, it was all over when Malinga tried to smash a Narine ball over mid-wicket and ending up in the hands of Bravo.

Then came the moment that probably not only West Indian fans, but fans from India and Pakistan also wanted (and maybe the whole world except Sri Lanka). With the kind of fun and joy players play the game and people watch the game in West Indies, it always made the whole world smile and support them. It was Gangnam march by the whole team, it was cheers on every one’s face, it was joy of achievement, it was push-ups and swim dives by Gayle, and it was much more which as Sammy said, “Can’t be described in words”.

They have waited for this moment for so long  since being a top cricketing force in the 80′s. It took them 29 years to reach a World Cup final. They were determined from the last 2 years to become a T-20 world champion team with the likes of Gayle, Pollard, Narine, Russel, Sammy, Samuels – all of them being the best players of T20 cricket in the world. They started as one of favourites of the tournament, but everyone had doubts over them, if they can play in a big pressure tournament. Gayle (and his Gangnam) and Narine, with the help of others took them up to the final, and Samuels and bowlers joined the party in the big final to achieve the best moments of their lives.

Hope, it’s a start of a new-bright day for West Indies cricket.

1. South Africa are chokers

Whether they admit it or not at the start of the tournament, they have to admit it at the end. Played like a champion side in the first stage, only to choke in the very first Super Eights game. Not only did they choke themselves, but they choked India as well.

2. Australia is always a favourite

They started the tournament at number nine in the world (a week before that they were at number 10, below Ireland), and therefore everyone predicted the West Indies to have an easy group. But it would be stupid to count out the Aussies, who won each of their first four games. However, when it mattered to India how the Australians performed, they played like minnows, and just about reached their preliminary 112-run target without worrying about original one, thus entering the semis.

3. Rohit Sharma can play only in the IPL

He does it, and does it big in the IPL, but when it comes to the international stage, instead of scoring hundreds, he scores zeros. He might have a split personality disorder, as he becomes someone else once he plays in the Indian jersey. Maybe he doesn’t like the Indian blue jersey, and should be given his IPL jersey so as to let him play his ‘natural’ game.

4. Pakistan can never win against India in World Cups

Pakistan were ecstatic when they won their warm-up game against India, but they didn’t realize that the World Cup hadn’t started yet. From now onwards, Pakistan and ICC should accept that they will not win against India, and give the points directly to India to save the time.

5. Afridi is a bowler now

He scored the fastest-ever hundred on his debut game, but as time has passed, he has slowly converted into an all-rounder, and now a bowler. The World Cup was the ideal platform to prove that he still had his batting skills with him. He batted at number seven or eight in his first couple of games, and then against SA went back for a first-ball duck. He should have been demoted to number 11, or at least below Umar Gul, but guess what! He came at number three in his next game against India, but still did nothing to prove his batting abilities.

There are two more things that didn’t made the list:

1. Pietersen is a hit with words as well

KP wasn’t allowed by the ECB to play in the World Cup, so he decided to play with words and became a TV pundit. He turned out to be very good at that too. His question and answer sessions with the likes of Gayle and Kohli were so funny and frank that he should be made a full-time expert. The other Peterson, called Robin, tried to fill in for KP by attempting switch-hits. He failed miserable though, and in the match against India got out twice (once off a no-ball, and the other off a free-hit) in two balls attempting switch-hits.

2. England can never play spin

They tried and tried hard, they changed a number of players, they came to the sub-continent many times, and experimented in order to play spin effectively. However. they certainly did not succeed. They even tried to drop their best player in KP to have a positive effect, but all in vain. They struggled against spinners from every team, even the lesser-known Afghani ones, and against India played bizarre strokes.

The end of game 1 ensured no place for the chokers. But this time, they were in situation where they could choke the other team (which they did eventually). The big margin win for Pakistan over Australia meant an uphill task for India. Not only  did India have to win, but with a big margin. The toss was the important factor at that time for India, as they are good chasers. With the need to improve NRR, India would have loved to bat 2nd and chase the runs in the required no. of overs. But the toss didn’t help India and were invited by South Africa to bat 1st. That meant India had to win by a margin of 31 runs.

There was no other option for India, except for starting the innings with a flash. Gambhir thrashed the 1st ball through covers and showed his intentions. But these intentions lasted only for a few minutes as India lost their top 3 very early in the innings. It needed a typical Sehwag spark in the opening for India to set a huge target; which could be defended by a 31 run window. But the good start did not happen as well as Virat failed to score heavy. The expected target needed to be reduced for India after that start with the middle overs going slowly. And in the end, Dhoni and Raina hit a few big strokes to help India get a chance to go through.

Indian bowling had their biggest test, having only 121 runs to defend. Zak started in style getting the dangerous Amla for a duck. Pathan got another danger man Kallis, and both Pathan and Zak bowled a brillian opening spell. But Faf du Plessis had other ideas and had a goal of showing his captain what the team missed in the last couple of games by dropping him. He played brilliantly against both spinners and pacers. Moreover, he played fast that pushed India on the back foot. Meanwhile, the other side kept falling, Robin got out twice in 2 balls but none of them counted, Balaji and Ashwin tried hard, Pak fans kept on cheering and much more, none of them being positive for India. 121 were always going to be difficult to defend, and South Africa reached the target in the 17th over.

After that game no. 2, having a target of 153 started. Zak bowled a brilliant 18th over getting 2 wickets, Ashwin also did a fair job with 10 for 1 in the 19th. It was all left for the last over. Balaji got the baal to defend 14 runs, and guess what, he went for sixes twice and both times got a wicket with his very next delivery. And India finished 1 run more than of the opposition, but this time it was rare, as both the teams weren’t happy with the result.

The game started with the two different stats. One, that India had not won a single Super Eight game since their victorious efforts of 2007, and two, that India had never lost a game against Pakistan in any World cup game. It was battle of stats, to see which would remain true. In the end the second won. I wonder if India can play each World Cup game against Pakistan, as then they could lift each World Cup. It wasn’t the usual Indo-Pak clash with arguments on the ground, epic sledging, a tight finish and a heart-in-mouth contest, but was instead a rather simple one-sided contest.

Hafeez won the toss and probably repeated the mistake that India made in the last game by choosing to bat first. With four spinners in the side, it was expected to be difficult to bowl in the second innings, and the possibility of rain and dew only made it more difficult, as did Pakistan’s low score of 128.

After an unlike Dhoni experiment which included five bowlers including three spinners, the captain went back to his original theory, with which he was more comfortable with, playing seven batters and four bowlers, with a number of part-time options. India started with Zaheer Khan and Pathan, who are the side’s best new-ball bowlers. Pathan got a wicket with his in-swinging delivery in the very first over, which brought on Afridi, a surprise choice. He could have been demoted to number 11 after his first ball duck in the last game (and many other games as well), but Hafeez thought differently, probably due to Afridi’s record against India, and allowed him to play an innings at the top. But it didn’t work well, as he turned out to be the first of Balaji’s three wickets. In came the part-timers to complete the fifth bowler’s quota, but did much better than ‘the probable’ fifth bowler, going for just 37/3 in 6 overs. In fact, they allowed India to take control of the match in the middle overs. The death overs are a concern for India always, but India didn’t allow the match to slip this time, as the Ashwin-Balaji combination worked really well to keep the score down.

Pakistan needed an early wicket to have any hope of winning, and Raza Hasan provided that in the very first over by catching Gambhir’s ‘loft over bowler’s head and get four runs’ shot off his own bowling. To see two consecutive failures for Virat Kohli would probably require you to sit in a time machine and go a long time back, as it just does not happen nowadays. He came in and took on the bowlers with ease, scoring yet another 50. Sehwag on the other ahd n changed his game a bit and tried to stay on the crease for as long as possible, as India had a very low target to chase. Ajmal and Afridi couldn’t provide the kind of spin that Pakistan needed in the middle overs, probably due to their low target, and Viru and Virat allowed India to cruse to an easy victory.

Maybe India could have charged the bowlers after the first 6-8 overs and completed their chase quickly in order to improve their net run rate. However, if Pakistan loses to Australia, then India can afford to lose against South Africa by a very narrow margin, and if Pakistan wins the game, India will have to win by a slightly bigger margin than the margin of the Pakistan and Australia game. A simple-looking equation can turn out to be very difficult in the actual game though.