Celebration of a Lifetime

I might be quite late in jotting down my feelings about the triumph of the Indian team at the Twenty20 World Cup, arguably the biggest cricketing achievement of the nation in my lifespan so far. But as it turns out, today marks the 75th day of that indelible moment and might just be the right time to brush up those memories again.

Twenty20 cricket, though popular by that time in England and New Zealand, had never taken our imaginations to a high. India had played just one T20 match before the World Cup. Adding to that the absence of the three batting greats - Sachin, Rahul and Sourav, we always had qualms regarding this form of cricket. But as it always is, any form of cricket where the Men in Blue were competing was enough to take me to the TV Room, although the tournament painstakingly coincided with our mid-sem exams. (Our TV had broken down, and the new TV was just arranged in time a day before the World Cup started).

India kept on winning matches, except the odd loss to New Zealand in the first match of the Super Eight stage. Wins against South Africa and against Australia in the semifinals were always special considering the strength of these teams. The big day, the Finals coincided with the day my exams ended; I was just in time to watch the National Anthems starting when I returned after finishing my paper!

Some of the best moments (obviously not counting the winning moment, the lapsed "scoop" from Misbah-Ul-Haq) to me are best ascribed to in this video.