Sachin Tendulkar giving a phono (phone interview) to CNN-IBN sitting in Mumbai, right after India pulled off a stunning triumph in South Africa. Sourav Ganguly giving interviews cheering the team sitting in distant Kolkata. The greatest Indian cricketer of his generation and the aggressive captain courageous were sitting at home twiddling their thumbs, while a young, inexperienced team with a brand-new captain became World Champions.
Hope it's not a flash in the pan and instead is the shape of things to come in a future without the 'golden generation.' And it's wonderful to be proved wrong. Along with experts and pundits, advertisers who were initially lukewarm and bookies who may have found the twists and turns too sudden to make predictions.
It certainly helped that Dhoni and company headed for South Africa, without any baggage of expectations. There were no news channels drumming up 'good wishes' soundbytes from across the country and I don't remember pop singers/bands coming out with their World Cup 'anthems. ' The only effort being the Sreesanth-written song Jaago India which did not create much of a buzz (it was planned for the ODI World Cup earlier this year but remained in the cans due to India's early exit).
This unheralded young team had nothing to lose, just like the 1983 World Cup team. And who do they meet in the final, another unheralded young side, a Pakistan down in the dumps and worse off compared to India.
There's one thing though that I can claim to have judged correctly. The eternal underachiever Ajit Agarkar should not have been part of this World Cup party. And it's high time he is shown the door forever.
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