Prove people wrong: Theme of Champions Trophy 2013

Whenever we think of BCCI, a picture of a powerful influential body comes to our mind whose sole intention is to milk money from the game we love and not develop it. While some of it is certainly true but the emergence of players from all across the country and their sense of athleticism certainly provide testimony to the argument that perhaps some of the allegations labelled against BCCI is not true.

When it comes to individuals, the openers kept the critics at bay by forming a wonderful partnership at the start throughout the tournament that gave the Indian innings the required stability and necessary momentum. They found a way to counter the swing (although it wasn’t much of a threat in most of the matches) and dealt with short pitch bowling quite effectively.

Ravindra Jadeja, who used to be the butt of most cricketing jokes till not so long ago is having a rather surreal turnaround in his cricketing fortunes. While he did have a good series against Australia back home, critics were not sure how useful he would be in England. But he answered them in some style by becoming the highest wicket taker of the tournament. Yes, he did find an unexpected ally in the pitch, but that should not take away any credit from the way he delivered throughout the tournament. Add to it, his two crucial cameos and his livewire fielding, and one can easily understand as to why he has become a crucial cog in the wheel.

And finally comes MS Dhoni. Despite all his laurels so fa,r he has seen many Indian fan labelling him as ‘The captain of the best Indian team’ while the title of ‘Best Indian captain’ has been reserved for Sourav Ganguly. This despite winning the ODI World Cup after 28 years, winning the first T20 World Cup and taking India to the zenith of ICC test rankings. Also, his leadership in foreign soil was not above scrutiny. This triumph should effectively take care of all the naysayers, and hopefully they will understand that Dhoni has built wonderfully on the base that was laid by Ganguly and his men. Both came at different time of Indian cricket and they have both played a wonderful role in taking Indian cricket ahead. But this debate of who is better is surely getting redundant. While captain cool still maintains that he does not play cricket to prove anything to anybody, but just in case, if anybody had any iota of doubt, it has been effectively answered in June 2013.

As I write this, there are reports that owing to the wonderful response from the crowd worldwide, the ICC will deliberate on whether to keep this tournament alive in the coming years. If it turns out that way, it would prove wrong all those people who felt 50 overs cricket has lost all its relevance.