Keeping Nerves in Adversity

This is why I liked the World Cup victory of 2011. I had also watched the 1983 finals when in my MBA hostel at Bangalore. This time I was in Bhubaneswar. The difference I found this time was that the team did not let adversity in the form of Sachin and Sehwag's dismissals get them down. Also, the last few overs that Sri Lanka hit out in, did not bother them for too long. True grit, and Dhoni probably should take some credit for inspiring the team by his personal approach. He may have made wrong choices, but he produced a win. No one's perfect, but teamwork overcomes the lack of it.

Yuvraj also played like a champion, and knew what he had to do, and did it in most matches. Raina played very well to get us to the finals. Harbhajan produced a very good spell in some matches, though he was luckless in many. Zaheer was good most of the time. Nehra contributed in the semifinals. Gambhir came out looking very good in the finals. I was particularly happy to see 5 bowlers take 2 wickets each in the semi-final.

I would rate Raina's knock against Australia as one of best in the series for India. Incidentally, Mahela also played like a dream in the finals. What smooth strokes!