#13 I wrote this just after the 2023 World Cup final loss to get it out of my head. I didn’t expect it to be my 13th post, though 13 has always been good for me. Joke apart, this time, I thought we would go through. The moment Australia qualified for the final, 2003 kept ringing in my head. And just like my first proper World Cup experience, India lost. Over the years, I have felt consolation that it was good to lose in 2003 since that kept Sachin playing. If we had won in 2003, Sachin may not have carried beyond 2007. Thankfully, he did, and we saw a magical 2010 and the cup in 2011.
About the 2023 team, I don’t know if our two all-time greats will play another World Cup. Virat was lucky to get right at the start of his career, but I feel for Rohit. Post Sachin, Yuvraj and Dhoni, he is the one who kept me watching cricket. The team was the best we had in years, better than 2011, but it doesn’t seem sufficient. I can relate to this a lot from my journey in SAE BAJA in my graduate years. It was a competition of 250 college teams. When all the events were over, and we were waiting for the declaration of winners, we never thought it would be us the National champions. We thought it could be the one from Bombay because they had the best car that year, but they didn’t win. We did better across all the segments of the competition. I vividly remember the declaration ceremony. It went like this: “The winner is from south of India, from Tamil Nadu {we thought of a team, not us}, from Chennai, {we thought whom from Chennai}, and it is SRM”. It isn’t easy to replicate the adrenaline rush we experienced that day, much like Dhoni said about the Vande Mataram chant in the 2011 final. As much as the elevation peak, I experienced the exact opposite the following year, when our car broke down, and we couldn’t patch up within the stipulated time. Looking back, I feel good that I tasted both ends.
Back to cricket, the 2011 victory was too sweet to overcome the bittersweet 2003. Sachin finally got one. In the middle, we had a forgetful 2007. In 2015, we didn’t have a great team, but we still won seven in a row until the semifinal. We took all ten tickets in each game from a not-so-great bowling lineup and saw Shami the bowler. I remember following the semifinal from the office with all the hopes on Dhoni. 2019, we had a better team, but the same story. With that Dhoni run out, it was all over. This time, the loss hurts more because the team was the best.
The number of finals we lost in recent years is agonizingly high. Women lost the 2017 T20 and 2022 ODI final, men lost the 2017 CT final, 2021 & 2023 test final and now 2023. I never expected history would rhyme again in 2023. Once again, an India-Australia final, India losing, and our best player winning the man of the series. Sachin winning that award was the only consolation after the loss because we knew that Australia. The early 2000s Australia was probably the greatest team ever in the history of cricket. All eleven in that team were legendary, so the 2003 loss was kind of acceptable. Two decades later today, it was India having an edge. Once again, I realize it’s not the best team that wins but the one who delivers when & where it matters. The best I could do now is to watch Gabba 2021 and find some solace.