And so we exit this “World Cup”

I woke up this morning, and all channels were going gaga over India's exit from this "World Cup".

The first thing that came to my mind was Boris Becker's second Wimbledon victory! After winning it for the second consecutive time, Becker said that this was much sweeter than the first one, because the burden of expectation was much much higher than the first one, and to win under such conditions was much sweeter :)

When we won the World Cup in 1983, the team did play consistently well till the 1987 WC (we lost in the semi-finals then). Maybe the young brigade this time found it just too much to handle the burden of expectations this time (especially with our media).

TIMES NOW reporter was walking while reporting, with some fans behind him. His voice is choked with emotion ( like India just lost a war; actually it was more like he lost his job for unfair reasons :D). And then he tells us - "The honeymoon period has ended; this has been very disappointing; this has been a very disappointing way to end the honeymoon"

A disappointing way to end the honeymoon??? What would have been a "satisfying way" of ending the honeymoon, Mr. Reporter? Lose in the Finals? Or if we lost in the semi-finals, it would have been a not so disappointing end to the honeymoon? And ohh by the way, Mr. Reporter, there was no need for you to ask the question "Should M.S.Dhoni be replaced? Is he the right man for the job?" You and I know very well that there is no one else who can lead Team India better than Dhoni now. Maybe you should find a way to control your false emotions!

Before talking about the losses, I want to make one more point. Why can't the BCCI handle things better??? Why doesn't it step up when the situation demands?? The recent stand off between the team and the media could have been handled much better than it was. Why do you have to burden the captain with strategizing for the match and also strategizing on how to face the media?! You could see there was negative energy around, so what just was the BCCI doing?!

And now for the losses. Dhoni himself agreed that his calculations in today's match went wrong. Apart from that, I also think the team was not in right frame of mind while coming into the tournament, and the fight with the media didn't do it any help either. The IPL fatigue, the Sehwag issue, the lack of practice before yesterday's match - all hurt the team.

Anyway, given that this T-20 World Cup is going to happen next April, the champions will not have too much time to celebrate ;-). The 4 year World Cups are so much better. You wait for them in anticipation, if you don't win in one, you have to wait for a full four years, and it gives you time to plan better. Atleast the Cup should be once in 2 years. Definetely not within 10 months of the previous one!

I don't feel any strong emotion after this loss... for given that another "World Cup" is coming up just next April, I think we need not wait too long before the same media will get a chance to sing paens for this team! The defeat is disappointing no doubt, but then it is not the end of the world, is it?

ot