I remember that afternoon in Jan 99. Wasim Akram’s Team had won a Test match in Chennai. The Pakistani team was taking a round of lap at the Cheapuk and I had to see it.
Those days, watching India play was like watching a horror movie. Our team was capable of loosing against any team from any situation.
We used to win a few ODI’s here and there. But Test team was a disaster.
We were termed as lions at home. But here Pakis showed that who was better. We lost in Zimbabwe, West Indies, England, New Zealand, and could not win in Sri Lanka.
In South Africa, captain Sachin Tendulkar tried his best to win in , but Cullinan and Donald batted it out untill bad light took over.
Australia was even worse. Such was the form the Indian Batting line up that Laxmans 100 at Sydney still seems “historic”
Later that year Hansie Cronje came to India and won the test series breaking India’s record of being unbeaten at home for some 20 years.
It used to hurt. Hurt more when we used to roam around the streets of Pune in our cricket whites. People used to look at us like a bunch of looser.
Worst was when Hansie declared that he had fixed the matches in India. People like Azaruddin, Prabhakar, Chetan Sharma couldn’t keep their mouths shut.
Wearing the cricket whites was like a curse.
Things changed slowly. Under the captainship of Saurav Ganguly we got new hope. We won 1st match against Bangladesh. But the real fun was when Australia visited India. I had placed a bet on India winning. Some how, I believed in him so much that I was not willing to give up when India followed on against Australia at Eden Gardens.
That day in March changed the way India played cricket. Not only that. It changed the way India looked at cricket, the way India thought about cricket. We started winning, more than that we started believing that we can win.
The series of wins started from there. We won in Zimbabwe, West Indies, England Sri Lanka. Almost everywhere we played. The fans were getting so used to winning that there used to be disappointment when the team lost the match. The expectations were increasing.
After a good WORLD CUP, India toured down under. For the 1st time people were talking about a team beating Australia that too in Australia. Not only Indians, the whole cricketing world was backing India The Aussie domination was on a descend. When The series ended 1-1 but that was the 1st time when people started looking at India as a super power -the team that could be there at the top. Then there was a historic win in Pakistan.
India was on its way to the top. The question was “when” and not “how”? Then there seemed to be a dip. We were winning but without authority. We lost at home against Pakistan and Australia, could not win against England. Though we won a match at Durban and the series against WI the number 1 spot seemed to be far.
Kumble inducted the team with the spirit to fight.. He led his team to victory in Perth. The faith was reinstalled. People again started believing in this team. And this time, India was very much near to achieving it.
If It hadn’t been for the loss in SL and a not so good series against SA at home, We could have been number 1 much earlier. The tour to Pakistan was cancelled. too
Better late than never, though. We won against depleted Australia and Pakistan and then even the best of Sri Lanka was not good enough to match us. So, finally we reached the number 1 spot.
There were fears that all it might take was 1 match for SA to win and they would be back at the top. But we are going into the new year as number one.
For a fan who has been following this team this is the moment to cherish. Lets celebrate the performance of this team. This is one event that will make 2009 special.
Those days, watching India play was like watching a horror movie. Our team was capable of loosing against any team from any situation.
We used to win a few ODI’s here and there. But Test team was a disaster.
We were termed as lions at home. But here Pakis showed that who was better. We lost in Zimbabwe, West Indies, England, New Zealand, and could not win in Sri Lanka.
In South Africa, captain Sachin Tendulkar tried his best to win in , but Cullinan and Donald batted it out untill bad light took over.
Australia was even worse. Such was the form the Indian Batting line up that Laxmans 100 at Sydney still seems “historic”
Later that year Hansie Cronje came to India and won the test series breaking India’s record of being unbeaten at home for some 20 years.
It used to hurt. Hurt more when we used to roam around the streets of Pune in our cricket whites. People used to look at us like a bunch of looser.
Worst was when Hansie declared that he had fixed the matches in India. People like Azaruddin, Prabhakar, Chetan Sharma couldn’t keep their mouths shut.
Wearing the cricket whites was like a curse.
Things changed slowly. Under the captainship of Saurav Ganguly we got new hope. We won 1st match against Bangladesh. But the real fun was when Australia visited India. I had placed a bet on India winning. Some how, I believed in him so much that I was not willing to give up when India followed on against Australia at Eden Gardens.
That day in March changed the way India played cricket. Not only that. It changed the way India looked at cricket, the way India thought about cricket. We started winning, more than that we started believing that we can win.
The series of wins started from there. We won in Zimbabwe, West Indies, England Sri Lanka. Almost everywhere we played. The fans were getting so used to winning that there used to be disappointment when the team lost the match. The expectations were increasing.
After a good WORLD CUP, India toured down under. For the 1st time people were talking about a team beating Australia that too in Australia. Not only Indians, the whole cricketing world was backing India The Aussie domination was on a descend. When The series ended 1-1 but that was the 1st time when people started looking at India as a super power -the team that could be there at the top. Then there was a historic win in Pakistan.
India was on its way to the top. The question was “when” and not “how”? Then there seemed to be a dip. We were winning but without authority. We lost at home against Pakistan and Australia, could not win against England. Though we won a match at Durban and the series against WI the number 1 spot seemed to be far.
Kumble inducted the team with the spirit to fight.. He led his team to victory in Perth. The faith was reinstalled. People again started believing in this team. And this time, India was very much near to achieving it.
If It hadn’t been for the loss in SL and a not so good series against SA at home, We could have been number 1 much earlier. The tour to Pakistan was cancelled. too
Better late than never, though. We won against depleted Australia and Pakistan and then even the best of Sri Lanka was not good enough to match us. So, finally we reached the number 1 spot.
There were fears that all it might take was 1 match for SA to win and they would be back at the top. But we are going into the new year as number one.
For a fan who has been following this team this is the moment to cherish. Lets celebrate the performance of this team. This is one event that will make 2009 special.
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