The anti-climax

And finally the campaign ended. The contest was nowhere close to the nail-biting thriller which the first semi-final allowed us to witness, but nobody could argue with the result. The better team in every aspect won the game. For some of us, the defeat of the proteas might have hurt more.

 At the start of the world cup, with the kind of woeful form that India were in,  a pragmatist would have given at best a quarter-final slot and even the optimist would have accepted that, though not gleefully. However, reaching the semi-finals undefeated was indeed a fairy-tale that perfectly camouflaged team’s petty record in overseas conditions.

The heart was rooting for India, as always, but the calculations in the brain kept giving signals that it’s time. Indians did much more than what was expected of them and we should be proud of that. In the process, they really gave us some awesome moments and stats. Led by a captain that believes in himself as well as his team-mates, it gave us a vivid example of Indian’s ability to use the scarce resources optimally. The bowling attack that could hardly bowl out oppositions half side went on to bowl out the entire team consecutively for 7 straight matches.

Now, seeing some immature fans burning posters of the players is surely not the way to accept the result. This just shows the importance of results to us, without taking into account the process. We got defeated by a better set of players who played good cricket in their own backyard, that’s it, nothing else.  One bad day and the whole of the good work are ruined. It goes a long way in explaining our mentality in every aspect of life.  Who knows our only defeat might turn out to be against the title winners?

If we just take a moment and look at India’s campaign, we will surely appreciate their efforts and the joys that they gave us during this journey.  And let's just not talk about the semis :)