World Cup Fever- THE END

Mission-2007, the magic phrase which was a faith and belief of millions on Indians failed miserably when India lost to Srilanka in the world cup first round match. Most of the hearts were broken after Bangladesh won the match against India. It says all about Team India’s performance in this World cup. Three deaths were reported all over the country so far. It was waiting for a chance to get into the second level of tournament depending on another team’s win/loss. How disgraceful it could be? It was a shameful exit to the title favorites and runner-ups last time. The fact remains that a team which boasts to have the best batting line-up in the world couldn’t reach 200 runs against Bangladesh. If Bangladesh had lost to Bermuda, it would have been embarrassing entry for Indian team to the Super 8. Thanks to Bangladesh for winning that match. Luckily we were not in the same pool with Australia or South Africa. Team India would have had a humiliating defeat. There is nothing wrong in the Team selection or the players. This was the team which reached the finals in Johannesburg four years back. So what went wrong this time? Are those Greg Chappell’s experiments? Or the new entries of players like Dhoni or Pathan? No, but it’s a back foot drive of team effort from the players. The confidence in every player was the missing factor. It was very clear in the match against Srilanka where no one had the intention of staying in the middle to have a partnership to score runs.

The fans deserved something better than this. We had every right to demand a victory. At least for the angry fans back at home they should have won the Srilanka match. But none were interested in the game. It would be less if we say that their hard work on modeling and acting in advertisements had taken away their skills in the game.

Here are my opinions on few concerns of the fans:

Should Rahul Dravid continue as Captain?

Yes. He had always done his role perfectly. His role as a captain had no impact on his batting skills where his predecessors failed to do so.

Should Sachin quit?

Yes and No. Yes, he should quit from the one day version of the game before the board drops him. But he should be in the test team as he does play a vital role there.

Did Ganguly do justice to his comeback? Should he be made captain?

Ganguly, since his comeback was more interested in making runs for him and not for the team. No, he should not be considered again for the captain role. We are happy now with what he is scoring.

Should we drop Sehwag?

Yes, definitely. A century once in 3 years and that too against Bermuda isn’t worth a consideration.

Should Dinesh Karthik replace Dhoni?

Yes, we should give more chances to Karthik. We need a player who is more consistent than a player who can hit once in a year.

And last but not of the least concern, should Chappell go?

YES. He made the team worse than what it was before.

Rest all players wouldn’t make much difference if the key players perform their best as they used to.

PS: Now am supporting Australia in this world cup. I don’t want to end up supporting another losing side :-P