Team India beats cricket prophecy

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script><br />In India cricket is a well-researched craze, indulged in by the richest and the poorest alike and no one usually goes chasing after the moon nor plumbing the depths of Hades in their prognosis. <br /></div> <div align="left" style="position:relative; left: -2"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="left" border="1" width="28.2%"> <colgroup> <col width="100.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <div class="Normal"><img src="/photo/660585.cms" alt="/photo/660585.cms" border="0" /></div> </td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <div class="Normal">Team India</div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal">So today, we find that every person who was previously liberal with his views is no longer forthcoming with their dime''s worth.What has changed the scenario so drastically in a punter''s paradise? <br /><br />When the Indian cricket team went on the Australian tour in 2003-04 every pundit in the game prophesied doom for Team India. They said the Australian pacers will decimate the Indian batting in no time and we will return with a drubbing of our lives.<br /><br />All of this was said in the backdrop of the fact that India had reached the final of the World Cup 2003 in South Africa in style. They pipped so-called better teams on the way to the final.<br /><br />Trouble was that critics translated the World Cup performance as a one-off thing and most put on their blinkers at the fact that the Indian team was giving better and more professional performances since the appointment of coach John Wright.<br /><br />The World Cup was a catharsis for the Indian side like no other, arguably to a larger extent than even the amazing win at World Cup 1983. At least, the post-Cup performances by Team India have shown that they were not just a flash-in-the-pan.<br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal"><br />While the 1983 team ignobly lost the Test series at home to the West Indies soon after the Cup, Sourav & Co have gone into the cruise mode and equalled, if not overpowered some of the best opposition in the world and that too at home Down Under, besides beating arch-enemy Pakistan.<br /><br />What did come out of the World Cup for India was self-belief and confidence in being able to weather everything that the opposition threw at them and emerging as the best in the business. It was the tournament when the youngsters came of age in cricketing terms, while Sachin walked away with the Man of the Series award.<br /><br />While established players like Sachin, Dravid, Laxman and Sourav need no pep talk to perform, it did provide to them the knowledge that there are others in the team to take up the slack in case all of them failed. It gave confidence to Ganguly that he could go all out on the attack knowing that there was a back up of vast talent to get him both the runs required or the wickets necessary to register a victory.<br /><br />For the light brigade, our Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Parthiv Patel, Irfan Khan and others, it brought the arrogance of achievement and pride in performing at the top of their ability for the team. What can now be expected of them is a totally professional approach, not unlike those of the Aussies and the South Africans.<br /><br />Put all together, today, India has achieved a status as the team to beat to achieve respect in cricketing circles. The only other teams so honoured are Australia and to an extent South Africa. It has silenced the doomsayers and those with the kudos are limbering up for a deafening Hurrah.</div> </div>