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The catastrophe called match-fixing
The biggest catastrophe for an Indian fan came in the year 2000 when some of the Indian players were believed to be involved in match-fixing. It was a hard pill to swallow for cricket fans all over the world. Every one of us felt cheated and led to believe that all along we had been taken for a ride in the name of cricket. Match fixing or no match-fixing, India should not have gone into 3 consecutive World Cups in 1992, 1996 and 1999 with the same Captain.
The match-fixing controversy gave one more chance for fans like me to quit watching cricket before India found another inspiring leader in Sourav Ganguly to take the team forward.
Ganguly Era redeems Indian cricket
It was due to Sourav Ganguly’s inspiring leadership that India reached the final of the World Cup 2003. The final was against Australia captained by Ricky Ponting. Before the final, the die-hard fan was busy digging out some history favoring Team India.
From World Cup 1979, the World Cup was alternating between the right-handed and left-handed Captains. In 1979 it was Clive Lloyd, Kapil Dev in 1983, Allan Border in 1987, Imran Khan in 1992, Arjuna Ranatunga in 1996, Steve Waugh in 1999. For the World Cup 2003, Ganguly the left-handed batsman and Captain, was on cue to attain glory since the opposition Captain Ricky Ponting was a right-hander.
It was all set for an Indian triumph before Ganguly had a brain fade at the toss. The moment Ganguly won the toss and decided to bowl, it was game over for India.
As a long-term follower of the game, the crazy fan could smell what was to happen the moment toss happened. And more often than not, his prophecy has been proved right. One couldn’t guess whether it was due to intuition or the experience arising out of watching so many games or a combination of both.
Irrespective of the results of World Cup 2003 final, Ganguly as the Captain has changed the face of Indian Cricket more so at a time when India were rocked by the match-fixing controversy.
