The multiple circles of life in India's sweet fairytale glory
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Is there a sense of time at all though in what can be argued as the best any ardent follower of Indian cricket has enjoyed? That's debatable, but what isn't is the fact that this is Nirvana of Indian cricket in a long, long time. A team touted for greatness has at last overcome the final hurdle to taste glory befitting of the campaign they enjoyed at the T20 World Cup in the USA and the Caribbean.
So much has been spoken about it. So much is yet to be spoken about it. Heck, the heroes are yet to return home with a hurricane suspending flight services in Barbados. Even Mother nature seemed to shed some tears to lend countless supporters back home and the players themselves some company.
Raw emotion. Tears rolling out of the eyes of Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Virat Kohli and the oft very composed Jasprit Bumrah. The goonda inside Rahul Dravid wasn't restricted to that famous ad campaign of his alone - it was on display in all its glory as he hoisted the trophy aloft.
Look deep down the journey of these aforementioned individuals and the rest of the team and the show of raw emotion is all but obvious.
India's T20 World Cup triumph was a combination of many little stories
It's not easy being a celebrity in India. More so a sportsperson carrying a massive weight of expectations. And even more so a cricketer for those expectations escalate to huge proportions.
With every defeat in a world event that has sent Team India crashing out, the badgers have come out. Questions are asked, calls for heads to fall are as loud as ever and the frustration of the public is always within your vicinity.
One can certainly argue that this frustration was valid of course. The Indian team hasn't bowed out of world events after a bad campaign. Quite often, they have dominated these tournaments and entered the knockouts as favorites to win - only for the dream to come crashing down.
After what happened at the ODI World Cup last year, one would have been expected to hold their horses for the unpredictable nature of sport and a knockout game could have seen just about anything transpire. More so in a tournament and a format where the unexpected has unfolded regularly.
Life is a circle but this one seemed to have a massively long radius to complete an arc. It was a radius of varying proportions for every stakeholder - be it squad member, support staff or just the average passionate Indian cricket fan.
It was in the hands of those on the field to complete all those arcs though. And so they did, writing fairytale finishes for numerous subplots that completed one whole beautiful picture. So many subplots - each of it is worth a visit to understand the magnitude of this triumph and what it means to Indian cricket.
Just about every World Cup campaign Rohit has partaken in begins with the backstory of his omission from the 2011 ODI World Cup squad - one that went on to clinch the whole thing altogether. His rise has been meteoric ever since - frontline opener in 2015, vice-captain and arguably the best batter of the tournament in 2019 and captain in 2023.
Fate was cruel in denying him the chance to complete that circle in 2023 with the World Cup against his name. But just maybe, we were looking at the wrong circle all along!
2007 is when he marked his arrival on the big stage with an outstanding fifty against a quality South African attack in the World T20 (as it was called then). And it's a T20 World Cup win that he completes his arc with - as captain this time, fittingly calling time on his career in the format in India colors on the best possible note.
What makes this remarkable is how there were questions - and justified ones at that - over his place in the team as a batter alone. After the final, he did quip that it was written in the stars above that India had to win but it was down in large parts to the man writing his own destiny with the bat, producing outstanding returns on decks that were by no means conducive to stroke-making.
Top that with all that transpired with the saga of his removal as Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper and Rohit the captain completed his redemption as well, which of course brings us to the parallel lead of that story which was by no means a hit.
Pandya was booed, chastised and abused with casteist slurs. For no genuine fault of his. He was by no means at his best as a player or captain in the IPL and while that warranted criticism, most of the flak coming his way was far from being constructive.
You can't keep a fine player down though. Most certainly not the one man who completes the balance of this Indian side. Of course it was destined that he would bowl the final over and complete his fairytale! He had a moment for himself post that last delivery where he let all those emotions out. To tweak a famous line from Harvey Dent in the Dark Knight trilogy, he lived long enough to see himself go from villain to hero.
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If there's one player who deserved the T20 World Cup crown more than anyone, it was Virat Kohli - the man who carried India's batting lineup across so many previous editions of the competition. How ironic is it then that the one tournament his bat doesn't light up as well as it is known to, he is a T20 World Cup winner!
Destiny owed it to him. A lot like Sachin Tendulkar was finally crowned a world champion in 2011.
Rishabh Pant may not have had the most glittering tournament with the bat but he did his bit from time to time, particularly on that diabolical New York surface. His wicket-keeping was outstanding and lest we forget, this was his first appearance in an India shirt since that horrific accident in December 2022. From hoping that he'd be able to pick up a cricket bat again to seeing him as a world champion - how can your eyes not tear up!
From a career-threatening back injury to bowling like a biomechanical freak, Jasprit Bumrah cannot be described in words for those words won't do justice to his reality-defying acts. India's wait seemed certain to extend when Heinrich Klaasen was hoisting the spinners on top of the solar panels of the Kensington Oval. But again, it just had to be Bumrah to save the day.
An ICC title against his name is just poetic justice to his greatness. Very few questioned it and any question asked raised eyebrows. Now, those questions have rightfully been pushed into oblivion.
There are stories elsewhere too. Who can forget Mohammed Siraj weeping after Glenn Maxwell hit the winning runs in Ahmedabad last November, for a billion dreams were shattered! The same Siraj, who played three matches this tournament - all in the group phase - was shedding tears of a different emotion this time after the final. A visual that showed just how much it meant to this team.
Axar Patel has never been India's go-to player in terms of choice. But that changed this time around - whenever there was a crisis, it was Axar who rose to the occasion to reiterate just how he is that piece who completes the jigsaw. And maybe, this is the campaign that finally establishes himself as a regular across both white-ball formats.
Suryakumar Yadav endured a torrid outing with the bat in the ODI World Cup final. Critical knocks throughout the 2024 T20 World Cup drove home the fact that he was always a different player in the shortest format though. And when you thought he endured a forgettable final again, he produced that moment of magic in the final over on the field. A clip that will be played for decades to come and one that shall be narrated to our grandchildren.
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It keeps going on and on - Kuldeep Yadav, having missed making the cut for the previous two T20 World Cups, is now a champion on first attempt. Shivam Dube's struggles with the bat didn't promise much for the summit clash but without his 16-ball 27, one can only wonder how things might have ended for India.
Arshdeep Singh, like so many of his teammates, was part of that fateful night in Adelaide in 2022 when England shellacked the Men in Blue in the semifinal. He's now taken the joint-most wickets in a single edition of the T20 World Cup - all in a winning cause to boot.
And of course, how can we not talk of the head coach. Not every decision Rahul Dravid and the management took during their tenure with this team paid off. There were questionable ones throughout the journey but what they did do was keep this team happy. Oh those fielding medal videos - a hallmark of a happy team that celebrated each other's success and was ready to push its limits for glory.
Dravid wasn't fortunate enough to be a World Cup winner as a player. Life gave him a fresh opportunity as coach but having fallen agonizingly short in November, this was his last chance.
It happened, as destiny could not be cruel once again to one of the sport's finest ambassadors. Much like Rohit, it was this particular circle that we always had to keep an eye on for Dravid oversaw a team become world champions on the very shores he endured arguably his darkest moment as a player and captain in 2007 - in the Caribbean islands.
The dust hasn't settled in India. It will not for a good time either, for the hurt and pain has been way too long. It's not the first instance of the Indian team clinching a world title but this just seemed to take far too much time when you factor just how good they have been in this period of time across formats.
Not many - including this writer, mind you - reckoned that this was their best chance. But that's how sport and destiny both work, isn't it? Beautiful things happen against the odds. It takes time but it doesn't mean you stop trying. For once that dream comes into fruition, the result is a lot sweeter than you may have imagined it to be.
A billion Indians did not sleep on the night of June 29, yet they did not complain. They will not sleep again now as they welcome their heroes home at last after a good wait - it's been close to 90 hours since they lifted the World Cup at the time of writing.
Considering the quality of players brimming through the ranks, it needed one moment of glory to spark off a potential run of title wins for this generation. It's not a guarantee, but it should not be a surprise if this is where it begins for India as an indomitable force in the sport.
That's how it is, isn't it? A new circle of life begins!