A 28-year wait
In his latest blog , Siddhartha Vaidyanathan explains just why every player in the Indian team dedicated the World Cup victory to Sachin Tendulkar
Dustin Silgardo
25-Feb-2013
In his latest blog, Siddhartha Vaidyanathan explains just why every player in the Indian team dedicated the World Cup victory to Sachin Tendulkar. Tendulkar was the only one old enough to have memories of the 1983 win and he alone understands the real significance of that day.
It’s fascinating how the cricket lives of most in this team have run parallel with Tendulkar’s international career. Ten members of this squad, and most of them forming the core, are between 27 and 32. Many of them were drawn to cricket because of Tendulkar and many have talked about idolizing him in their impressionable years. Many tried to bat like him before getting more realistic. A few initially picked up heavy bats – the kind that he uses – before exchanging them for lighter ones.
Mahesh Sethuraman relives the misery India faced after the 2003 World Cup final, and says that is what made the victory in 2011 all the more special.
Sehwag finally found some form. Ponting bowled his spinners to complete the 25 overs soon for there was a threat of rain. The move backfired. Sehwag launched Brad Hogg out of the park for a couple of sixes. Someone did the wise thing of bursting firecrackers then, for it was the only time we even had an outside chance of winning the match. It left a deep scar on us. We couldn’t even talk ourselves up. We could have hated Australia, but we didn’t want to. They were clearly superior.
Dustin Silgardo is a former sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo