The 15 greatest World Cup moments for the Indian cricket fan

The World Cup fever is slowly building up and our cricket crazy nation would be fondly remembering the greatest cricketing moments involving our country. Which are the World Cup moments that still warm the cockles of the hearts of the Indian cricket fans?

The 1983 ICC Cricket World Cup:

Underdogs India winning the World Cup beating Australia, England and West Indies on the way, can be compared to David defeating many Goliaths. Independent India’s greatest sporting success during that time is part of legends now. There were some great moments during this historic turn of events.

1)   Kapil Dev’s blistering 175 – As a kid I remember my father glued to the radio set listening to the news and excitedly narrating how the India captain made 175 not out against Zimbabwe and took India to victory from a precarious 17 for 5. Unfortunately there are no recordings of that innings, probably the best innings ever played in a World Cup, by one of the greatest cricketers. 

2)   India dethrones the West Indies – In the final match, defending a modest 183, there are scenes that would always be shown on TV and would be played again and again on YouTube. Kapil Dev running backwards and taking an excellent catch to dismiss the dangerous Vivian Richards. Mohinder Amarnath, the man of tournament, getting the last wicket of Michael Holding out leg before, pulling off a stump as a souvenir as the team runs towards the pavilion, spectators thronging the players. Then the Indian captain with that innocent smile, with the Cup on the Lord’s balcony, the team behind him. India as a cricketing nation had arrived.

The 1987 Reliance World Cup:

The Indian team led by Kapil Dev again, started the 1987 World Cup campaign at home, hoping to repeat the performance of 1983. India dramatically lost out to Australia by 1 run in the first match, but subsequently put a string of superlative performances winning all the other league games.

The television had made major inroads into Indian households. Graham Gooch of England eventually “swept” India aside in the semi-final clash, but before that in a league match against the New Zealand there were some moments to cherish for the Indian fan.

3)   Chetan Sharma pulls of a hat trick – The Haryana bowler took the first hat trick ever in a World Cup, all three batsmen out bowled. The Kiwis still managed to score 221 batting first, a decent total for those times. 

4)   Gavaskar blasts through to his maiden ODI ton - India scored the required 221 runs in 32 overs at a very brisk rate and the original little master Gavaskar, scored an pretty uncharacteristic stroke filled hundred in style, with 3 sixes and 10 fours. Alongside there was Kris Srikanth who scored a characteristic stroke filled 75. We had a great evening discussing the match with friends and neighbours that day.

The 1992 Cricket World Cup:

The Gavaskar era had come to an end and the Tendulkar era had begun for Indian cricket. The 1992 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand belonged to Martin Crowe of New Zealand and Imran Khan’s Pakistan. India had a forgettable outing, winning only 2 of the 7 league matches. An Indian fan would still remember beating arch rivals Pakistan, the eventual champions.

5)   Young Tendulkar stamps his class - The man of the match in the clash with Pakistan, an 18 year old Tendulkar, scored a matured 50 to take India to 216. Pakistan started their reply well but then India could trigger a batting collapse in the Pakistani middle order to get them out 43 runs short. This match is also famous for the incident involving Kiran More and Pakistani great Javed Miandad where the latter jumped like a monkey imitating the Indian keeper. India did not make it to the semis, a placard during the finals read, “India beat Pakistan, end of the World Cup.”

The 1996 Cricket World Cup:

World Cup 1996 would be remembered for Ranatunga’s unbeaten champion Sri Lankan side and the terror of its openers Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharana. For India, Tendulkar scored heaps of runs and Kumble tumbled many wickets.

Eventually captain Azharuddin’s India lost to the champions in an extremely forgettable semifinal at the Eden Gardens; but there were some great moments for the Indian cricket fans with the defining match being the quarter final clash against Pakistan, in Bangalore.

6)   Ajay Jadeja took Waqar Younis to the cleaners - India batted first, Navjot Sidhu scored 93 and was the man of match. However the way Ajay Jadeja took on arguably the best bowler of the era, Waqar Younis, is part of cricketing folklore.  The middle order batsman whacked Younis to all parts of the Chinnaswamy Stadium during the death overs and India amassed 50 runs in the last 3 overs to finish at 287. 

7)   Venkatesh Prasad vs Aamir Sohail - In reply the Pakistani openers Aamir Sohail and Saeed Anwar started playing as if they would finish off the match in 30 overs or so. After hitting a boundary during a Venkatesh Prasad over, Sohail walked down the pitched and pointed his bat at Prasad threateningly, telling him where he will hit the next ball. The next ball from Prasad took Sohail’s off stump with it and the bowler gave him an abusive send off. No Indian fan worth his salt can even forget this one!

The 1999 Cricket World Cup:

The 1999 World Cup in England saw the beginning of the dominance of Australia as the world champion that was to continue for around a decade. India did not make it to the semi-finals in this edition, but there were some exceptional performances nonetheless.

8)   Tendulkar’s tribute to his father - Tendulkar lost his father before India’s match against Zimbabwe and he flew back to India for the funeral. India lost the match unbelievably by 3 runs, suddenly losing its 3 last wickets in a Henry Olonga over. Tendulkar returned for the next match with Kenya and scored an unbeaten 140. Post scoring the century he looked up at the sky and dedicated the century to his father, one of the most poignant moments of the tournament.

9)   The Prince of Kolkata at his magnificent best - The highlight of the Indian performance in this edition of the world cup was the mammoth 183 scored by Sourav Ganguly in Taunton, against Sri Lanka. The southpaw showed incredible dominance over the Lankan bowlers. To step out and hit respectable fast bowlers for sixes and treating spin great Muthiah Muralitharan like a street bowler needs some attitude. Rahul Dravid also scored brilliant hundreds in this match and the one before against Kenya.

The 2003 Cricket World Cup:

India covered itself in glory in the 2003 World Cup that was jointly hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya. Led by Saurav Ganguly, the team won against all teams they played, except Australia. The road to the final was like a dream with couple of exceptional moments.

10) Ashish Nehra sends shivers down the spine of the English - Against England, India batted first and Tendulkar hooked a memorable six of Caddick on his way to a half century. However the real fireworks happened during the second innings of the match when England batted. Ashish Nehra bowled like a magician and returned with figures 6 for 23. Such was the perfection of his line, length and swing, the entire English batting lineup with names like Trescothik, Knight, Vaughan and Hussain struggled to put wood on leather, that entire Durban evening.

11) Tendulkar derails the Rawalpindi Express - As always, the greatest match for India was reserved against Pakistan. It was touted as the “Sachin vs Shoaib” encounter. However in his very first over, Tendulkar upper cut the express fast bowler for a six and then followed it with two consecutive boundaries. Shoaib was removed from the attack. Sehwag did the same to Waqar Younis couple of overs later. The mighty Indian batting chased down 272 runs in a little more than 45 overs. Tendulkar top scored with 98 and was adjudged man of the match. It was the month of March.

In the final against Australia Captain Ganguly unexpectedly batted second. Ricky Ponting’s invincible team never looked like losing and the captain himself batted us out of the match with a marauding 140. The final would always remain a series of “what ifs” for the Indian supporters. An inform battery of bowlers and arguably the best batting line up of the world, could not stop India from losing the match that mattered the most. 

The 2007 Cricket World Cup:

The 2007 World Cup was completely forgettable for India where we could not clear the league stages and lost out to Bangladesh. There is nothing much to celebrate, except the win against minnows Bermuda with Virender Sehwag scoring a bludgeoning century and India scoring a mammoth  413.

The 2011 Cricket World Cup:

The Indian team had changed a lot under Dhoni and he carried forward the good work done by earlier captains like Ganguly. The tied match with England was the highlight of the league stages; however the greatest moments for India were reserved for the knock out stages when India beat Australia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka within a week to claim the trophy after 28 years.

12) Yuvraj propels India to the Semis – The player of the tournament Yuvraj Singh, was India’s greatest asset in this world cup. In the quarter final against Australia, India was in a spot of bother chasing 260, but Yuvraj scored a brilliant half century with the team in need, ably supported by Suresh Raina.

13) Tendulkar, the Semi Final and India beat Pakistan, yet again! -  It was a week day and the entire office gathered inside the cafeteria to watch to watch the match. When Sehwag hit 5 consecutive boundaries of Umar Gul, it seemed that the ceiling would blow off. Tendulkar scored a dogged 85 and was adjudged the man of the match, but the match was actually won by the bowlers. Pakistan would have chased down India’s modest 260, but for the bowlers who choked the middle order and kept taking important wickets. Zaheer Khan had especially mastered the art of choking out oppositions and was the unsung hero of the tournament.  

14) Gautam Gambhir stands up again in a World Cup final - The final at the Wankhede was a fairy tale that would be permanently etched in the minds of Indian cricket fans. Chasing 274 to lift the cup, India lost Sehwag early and when the master blaster edged Malinga to give a catch to the slips, India plummeted to 23 for 2. It seemed that we would not make it and Tendulkar would finish his outstanding career without a world cup. But then Gambhir, who played the most important innings in the T20 world cup final win for India in 2007, played a pivotal role here as well. He made a gritty 97 with the support of Virat Kohli and then with Dhoni, each run worth its weight in gold.  

15) Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the innings of his life – When Kohli got out, Dhoni promoted himself up the order ahead of Yuvraj, and played an innings that every kid playing anywhere in the country dreams of playing. The World Cup final, India in grave danger and captain cool with his brain made of cucumber, takes India home with a master class 91. No Indian cricket fan can forget that last six. That bat speed and the full swing, the ball disappearing into the stands. Dhoni watching it wide eyed till the very last moment and then rolling the bat in his hands in a gesture of triumph, to be engulfed by an ecstatic Yuvraj who was batting at the other end. Tendulkar running down from the pavilion smiling, followed by the rest of the team. Scenes that can be matched only by Kapil Dev standing with his team at the Lord’s balcony during the English summer of 1983.

Will Dhoni be able to repeat the exceptional feat in 2015 and defend the title with a much younger team? As cricket fans we want more cricketing moments like the ones above and the results would take care of themselves. We would then say, “Will not give it back”.

Is Delhi the beginning of the end of traditional Indian politics?

The BJP did make some political mistakes in Delhi, but these do not explain the landslide win for the Aam Aadmi Party with around 96% of the seats and 54% of vote share. The ruling party at the centre has done exceedingly well in the state assembly elections this year, in continuation to their phenomenal performance in the national elections last year.

Hence the margin of this defeat for the ruling party at the Centre has to be put into perspective.

The people of a nation get the kind of leaders they deserve. Time and again we have elected corrupt and criminal elements as our political leaders, since we have a sizeable percentage of citizens who are corrupt themselves. Many others believe that corruption cannot be done away with.

The approval to this phenomenon gets manifested when we say that it is fine if a politician is corrupt as long as he “works”. The AAP challenged this traditional “political liberty” and claimed that a government can run without corruption. Probably they were able to justify the same during their 49 days stint, so even the skeptical voters in the capital decided to give the party a chance.

Now, if the AAP is able to work and run a government with minimal corruption for the next 5 years, then the same would be expected of the traditional political parties as well.

We have also consistently voted along religious and caste lines and probably this would continue at some level. However a few political parties that projected themselves as the saviours of the minorities and certain castes are down in the dumps. The ones in power need to understand this.

The BJP fought the 2014 general elections on a development agenda and did very well. Fundamentalists within the Hindu community would always vote for the BJP and the ones in the minority communities would probably always vote against the party.

The BJP had stormed into power at the centre, because of sizeable section of voters who have nothing to do with Hindutva, but believed in the idea of development of Narendra Modi and in his ability to deliver.

However this section of voters in Delhi did not like the disproportionate and unbridled personal criticism of Kejriwal. They know that the latter had made political mistakes, but have faith in his intent and honesty.

These voters abhor the utterances of the Hindu hardliners and get frustrated when the Prime Minister keeps quiet. Eventually they rearrange their political affiliations, which are not visible over the social media or news debates, but lead to electoral upsets as seen in Delhi.

Hindu hardliners especially over the social media are doing more damage to the BJP and its image than any of its political rivals. The BJP must take a serious note of this because if the hardliners are not contained, they may dilute the development agenda of Modi and would gradually become the overwhelming face of the party’s reign.

All political parties must realize that the quality of their supporters and their political campaigning has to improve. Some years down the line this may become the basic expectation of the voters and then the parties would not be able to adapt suddenly.

The landslide victory of the AAP is bound to have some national consequences. Regional parties in other states would try to emulate some of the ideas of the young political party. The AAP would eventually go national themselves and we may also have some clones springing up.

Politics is a long term game. India is changing and political parties who realize the changing expectations and mind set of the Indian voter would survive in the long run. If the Congress can go into political insignificance in the capital, then this can happen to any party that takes the voter for granted.

The BJP also needs to do some serious introspections since it is being seen as a better alternative to the Congress, but not necessarily the best when there is a third option. The regional parties that have a stronghold over certain states should be careful and work on their agenda and manifesto.

Traditional Indian politics may be far from over, but in Delhi we saw a beginning towards a cleaner and a more matured political discourse. This needs to continue and a good performance in governance by the AAP is critical, with minimum confrontation with the centre. The BJP should also sincerely work together with the new state government. Voters would keep a hawk eye on both.

The other political parties should also compete with better ideas. Maybe some years down the line we would be able to choose the best in politics and not be forced to choose the least evil.

Why Kejriwal needs to be around

It is clear that the Delhi elections would not be a cake walk for the ruling party at the centre. This would be one of the most closely fought elections in recent times and the entire BJP leadership is putting its weight behind Kiran Bedi and their Delhi unit, to try and ensure a win for the party.

The AAP meanwhile has gained major ground as an alternative. Exit polls indicate that there is a clear possibility that the BJP juggernaut might be halted in the capital.

It would be good if Bedi with her impeccable track record becomes Chief Minister, but it would be better if Arvind Kejriwal gets the top job of Delhi.

The preference is post considering the mistakes that Kejriwal has made in the past. He received criticism when he quit the Chief Minister’s post after 49 days and rightly so. Probably he became too ambitious and thought that he could be Prime Minister and change the nation.

But then he left a chair for which people have bribed and allegedly even killed in the past. A “seasoned politician” would have put the second in command or his wife as the Chief Minister of Delhi and would have still fought the general elections. We would have accepted as we have done in the past.

He promised on his kids that he would not take support from anyone and still took the support of the Congress. A “seasoned politician” would never make such promises.

There is the recent “Hawala at midnight” allegation. The AAP tried to be transparent with its funding, but a shady transaction was not properly audited, which is not ideal. Other political parties however don’t even try to be transparent with their funding.

These are mistakes for which Kejriwal needs to be criticized and from which he must learn. However they also show that he is not a “politician” yet in the negative sense of the word and his intent is positive. If he is able to mix this intent with some patience, practicality and shrewdness, we may have a leader the nation needs desperately.  

Politically neutral friends and “netizens” from Delhi, vouch for the fact that during the 49 days of the AAP rule, corruption did reduce in government offices and there was a visible difference in the daily life of a common man in the city. These are changes that would be difficult to bring about for a traditional political party. The AAP may also have its bad apples in the future, but the idea that at least a state can run with minimal corruption for 5 years, needs to be tested in the country.

Two, the AAP has forced parties like the BJP to change for the better. The fact that the BJP had to bring in someone like Kiran Bedi to counter Kejriwal is a recent example. A section of Indians would vote for the best and not for the least evil on the 7^th of February. This has not happened many times in Indian politics and the trend should continue.

Three, understandably some arrogance has crept into the BJP because of the wins it has achieved over the past few months. The Congress and the Left front are down in the dumps and the AAP needs to rise as a potent opposition that would keep the ruling party on its toes.

This is a necessity in a democracy and an alternate political ideology would lead to a more matured and well-rounded political discourse in the country.

Having said this, Kejriwal and his party also need to improve. If the AAP does win, Kejriwal needs to become more practical and learn the art of political brinksmanship. We all want India to be free of corruption, but he needs to realize that this would take time and would not happen before the fall of summer. In the meantime he cannot keep annoying all other important stakeholders.  

However the criticism that he has received especially at the hands of his political rivals has been disproportionate. We have repeatedly chosen hard core criminals to represent us. In comparison Kejriwal has made political mistakes. We should criticize, but need to have the same yardsticks to judge him and his party.

His methods may seem idiosyncratic sometimes, but he is one among us who was frustrated with the way our country runs. While most of us could not get out of our comfort zones, he took the plunge and is struggling in the Indian political system which is often dismissed as a “gutter". We cannot take this away from him.

We need him around because we may not get another like him. Does he deserve another chance and does Delhi deserve him?

Let’s wait till the 10^th of February.