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It was not a game for us, we were forced to play. We imitated the British and today we have reached the mark where they haven’t reached yet. Cricket- the only thing in India which unites all of us in any situation, and yes, today we are at the top of it!
We learned cricket by playing the longest and oldest format of it – Test Cricket. Firstly Navab Mansoor Ali Khan Patuadi, then Sunil Gavaskar and now Sachin Tendulkar wrote India’s name with golden linings in the story of test cricket. When the limited overs format came, it was said that we could not play it but it was Kapil Dev and his men, who created history on the 25th June, 1983 and after that day, we never looked back.
Talent has never been a problem for Indian cricket. We always had a bag full of talented people; but now it was time to show the world the power of it. After 1983 World Cup, India found one of the greatest captains of all time, Sourav Ganguly. He was an all-round package of leadership, aggression and performance. He took India to a level it always deserved to be. Under his captaincy, we defeated England in the epic Natwest Series final in 2002. Who can forget the shirtless Dada in the stands of the Lord’s? We beat Australia despite having followed-on in the series decider match in 2001 at Eden Gardens.
But it was not only Ganguly in the team. We also had God of the 4th innings, VVS Laxman, with us. He scored 281 in his Very Very Special innings against Australia in 2001. He was the most consistent player against West Indies and Australia. We also had our ‘Jumbo’ Warne, Anil Kumble. His dedication for the game was impeccable. Also we had the great Wall, Rahul Dravid. Test cricket or ODI’s; opening batsman or wicket keeper, Dravid was always there for the team.
Taking Team India to a new level, Ganguly also discovered new talented players. Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan were those players whom Dada gave a chance and they didn’t prove him wrong. But there is always an end of the era; Dada retired and we suffered some tough years, until we found the Captain Cool M S Dhoni. He is the man of experiments, he likes to take challenges and he tackles them from front. His calmness always keeps the team motivated even though the situation is tough.
Not much was done by Dhoni until we defeated Pakistan twice in the same tournament to win the first ever T20 World Cup in 2007. It was not an easy run till the victory, but Dhoni always remained calm and used his tactics properly to win the World Cup for India. After that, he didn’t stop. His men defeated Australia in 2008 CB Series final and Sri Lanka in 2010 Asia cup final, to win the cup for the record 5th time.
Till the end of 2010, Dhoni had found his men. He had the Gambhir-Sehwag combo, the consistent Virat Kohli, the attacking Zaheer Khan and players like Ashwin, Raina, Yuvi with him. And this team gave India the chance to fulfil dream it had cherished since last 28 years – winning 2011 World Cup, defeating Sri Lanka in the match worthy of a final.
Winning the World Cup gave India all the things they wanted. We were at the top in test rankings, we had a T20 World Cup with us and now it was the dream of the God – Sachin Tendulkar; the ODI World Cup was with us. But since then we suffered heavy losses against England and Australia, and we lost our top position in tests.
But this is not over yet. We are now fully prepared for the ongoing T20 World Cup. We have a combination of seniors and young players in the team. Though the team did not show their best in the match against Afghanistan, there are chances of improvements and a hope that Dhoni and his men could possibly again grab the World T20 Trophy.
