THE TURNING POINT OF THE TOURNAMENT FOR INDIAN TEAM WAS THE BRUTAL 175 NOT OUT BY KAPIL DEV AGAINST ZIMBABWE. THEN THOSE MOMENTS IN SEMI-FINALS AND FINALS. A GREAT TEAM SHOW. GOOD ALLROUNDERS LIKE MOHINDER AMARNATH , MADANLAL. INDIAN CRICKET DID NOT LOOK BACK FROM THEN ON.
I have really enjoyed Dr Rama Chandra Guha's interview. His analysis slanted with a historian's perspective are really a treat for serious cricket lovers!
Personally belonging to that era, the 1983 team's victory felt more exciting to us then . It was really credit-worthy because it was a superlative effort by essentially a team of amateur Indian cricketers, who had meagre exposure and support . As a teenager in those days, we never hoped big from our team,so when Kapil's Devils won the '83 World Cup, it seemed like a fairy tale and our joy knew no bounds!
The 2003 World Cup performance was also no less creditable . But this current team is fundamentally different from all earlier Indian teams- coached , physically trained and supported by world-class expert professionals( Wright, Leipus ,Le Roux, Sandy Gordon) who mean business and being led on the field by an unusually confident and assertive Indian captain in the form of Saurav Ganguly!
If early indications are to be believed, we are seeing Indian Cricket finally coming of age. Go Team India!
I think that those were the glorious moments of indian history. In that time india had very efficient players like kapil, srikanth, ravi shastri, bedi, amarnath, but today if you take a look at the indian batting then there is not any one allrounder who can prove himself by getting india`s win. As compare to the previous indian team there are some changes have beeen done and they admitted some youngsters to give them a chance. And surprisingly mohammed kaif, yuvraj have done an incredible job in world cup 2003 but i think in india destiny there was not this world cup. May be in the next world cup we can prove ourselves. But one thing should be there and that is tendulkar should be there.
Mr.Guha seems to be good historian.good articles in THE HINDU on sundays.It will be good exercise for him to write on history of information technology in india as well.
I belive the 2003 Final was a Bad Day. As the team won all the matches comfortably as compared to the Australia Team which has to do some fight to get thru the finals as there middle order was not clicking...
But that day Indian Bowling I believe was back to its original form....
Also, I believe if Australian's were asked to chase the same target they too were not able to do the same no matter how bad we bowl...
Still, Hat's Off to the Indiamn Team as being considered as an Under Dog they were able to make up to the finals....
There is no comparison between the two world cups. Cricket has undergone a metamorphosis since the 1983 world cup. Teams are a lot more prepared - strategically and Tactically. Players are a lot fitter and there are a bunch of new teams. Todays Indian team would kick the crap out of the 1983 squad pound-for-pound. Also, How are mumbai players any less representative of India than players from other parts of the country. At any given time the best should play for India whether they come from Mumbai or Chennai or Jhumri-tallayaa. Its not a charity or lottery that decides who plays neither is it a display of your countrys culture. The Australian, South African and West Indian teams are dominated by certain regions too. Mr. Guha should be a census official not a historical sports analyst or whatever he says he is. Thanks but no thanks!!!!
How can you say that we were underdogs in 2003???????Let me remind you that though India lost to Aus in the preliminary stage, yet our path to reach to the finals after that match was far more convincing than the Aussies!!!!!!!!Its just that god wasn't with us. Nothing else! You should have thought twice before writing such a line!
You can try to post some other article instead of posting some thing from past. We indian traditionally believed in past glory and try to digest current gloom over that. If you donot have any material to cover the real estate just leave it blank.
The indian cricket team right now is nothing but a hopeless bunch. they can only do well in advertisements, they are neither physically fit nor have the mental stamina to actually dominate other teams. But the worst part is that the indian public prefers romanticism over pragmatism and are forever hoping for a typical "hindi film end" to all the matches india plays. if they stopped giving so much attention to them, then things would be much more sane for everyone.
