Here we Go Again !!

Twenty four hours from now, and we all will become the part of a journey, which will last for about a month and a half. Oh yeah, the 2019 Cricket world cup is all set to kick start on 30th May and I intuit each and every Indian cricket fanatic cant wait to see how this tourney is set to unfold . The buzz and excitement around it, the fan frenzy, the nervous breakdown through out the tournament , the Indo-Pak cricket rivalry, the emotion’s gushing through and our passion for the game is quite Unreal….the world calls us the cricket mad nation and rightfully so !!

 If there is one thing which unites this country with different cultures, speaking different languages, belonging to different ethnicity, its Cricket. Cricket unites us all no matter what our background is and from whichever tiny part of this large nation we belong to. Cricket has become an integral part of our lives, isn’t it ? All thanks to one man, The Little Master.

Can you all recall the 2011 world cup ? which was our second one, which we had won 28 years after winning the first one on 1983 ?  I can sense the nostalgia in you and your inner voice reverberating “Oh, how can we forget the It ?”.

What a night it was. April 2nd 2011, 10:50 IST it was. MS Dhoni hits a six off Nuwan Kulasekara and Ravi shastri who was on air, screamed:

“Dhoni finishes off in style, India lift the world cup after 28 years, the Party starts in the dressing room”

 

Watching my heroes achieve what i dream’t as child, watching all of my childhood heroes emotional , I couldn’t hold back my tears. When i saw  Sachin emotional and lifting the world cup i thought to myself  “Ah what a sight. My life is complete now”. What a moment to cherish, what a sight to behold and what an event to treasure. Without an iota of doubt, the Greatest Sporting moment of all our lives. 

Coming back to the 2019 world cup, we go in as joint favorites along with England. Our top order is world class with two all time great ODI players. Since 2015 world cup, Kohli has most number of centuries and Rohit the second most. India as always go in with a formidable top order, but a brittle middle order. The warm up match against Bangladesh has settled  the long standing problem of who is going to be the Indian no:4. With KL Rahul batting the the way he did during the game, i don’t think anyone is up for the grab.

What makes this 2019 Indian team from others is its bowling attack. With Jasprit bumrah at our disposal who is currently the best limited overs bowler, with the highly skilled duo of Kul-Cha (kuldeep, chahal),  also with Shami and Bhuvi at our helm our bowling attack looks pretty solid. In-fact India’s bowling attack is stronger than its batting this time around, a rarity.

We all can only hope our middle orders come to the rescue whenever needed. With MSD playing his last world cup, i hope that he has a brilliant one and ends his career on high. After all that he has done for Indian cricket, the world cup win this year will be the icing on the cake. I also feel that Hardik Pandya has a greater role to play in this world cup campaign. I see some serious potential in him and his late over power hitting will definitely come in handy.

If Kohli has a 2003 Tendulkar esque kind of a tournament, if Jasprit bumrah tears away the top order of every team, if the combination of Kul-cha spin a web, if our middle order ups it ante, if………So many ifs isn’t it ? Nevertheless we can always hope and there is nothing wrong

So how is this journey of ours gonna unfold, will we be over the moon on the final day July 14, or will we be heartbroken ? Let’s not foresee too far ahead as we all know “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is mystery, today is a gift, that is why its called Present” 

So, Are you guys ready then ? Let us rally behind our team and cheer for them like we always do . Go INDIA !!!