Indian sports- another “chak de India” domain

India has just won the inaugural ICC Twenty Twenty World Championship, beating traditional rivals Pakistan. Clearly, the title “world champions” is itself cause for huge celebrations. But the icing on the cake is that in the past couple of months, Indian tennis, badminton, field hockey and soccer have all taken India to levels that were associated with non-Indian nations. It is this “broad based rally” in Indian sport that makes me want to say, “chak de India”!

Hail India- ICC T20 World Champions, 2007!

About 2 weeks ago, when the inaugural edition of the ICC World T20 championship began in South Africa, most cricket pundits dismised India as no- hopers. If not Australia, South Africa would win. Former England captain Nasser Hussain had in fact called out India and England as the “weakest” teams in the competition. Just over 2 hours ago, India won the final against Pakistan, and in the process, reminded several of us that trying to predict the outcomes of cricket tournament can be as easy (and just as accurate!) as predicting the weather. 

It was an absorbing game of cricket. Undoubtedly, the print and electronic media- and other bloggers-will devote several column inches and bytes to cover the tactics, scores, individual performances and of course, the “turning points” in the game. So I shall not comment on those. What I will point out is that unlike India-Pakistan cricket matches played during the 70s, 80s and perhaps even the 90s, this game did not radiate raw animosity and hatred between the teams- something that was perhaps palpable in previous eras. Perhaps this is because the two teams have a younger set of players, who belong to one generation further from the one that suffered the pangs of Partition or suffered the consequences of wars of 1965 and 1971. Or maybe the anger is channeled into bowling, batting and fielding better. 

As I watched the last overs, I felt a strange thought enter my head: even if we lose this game, we fought well and there is no shame. Congratulations, Team India. And congratulations, Team Pakistan, for a gallant fight. Any which way, I think the game of cricket has emerged stronger and better. And T20 is here to stay- for all the chatter about it being a game of “hit and giggles”.