When all of India smiled....

It's been 8 years and it feels like it only happened yesterday. Years are passing by and all of us are getting older by the day but that night will stay as fresh as ever in the heart of every Indian. It will be stupid if I mention anything about the match itself because everyone has watched the highlights at least a thousand times and the winning moment a million times by now. There were three factors even before the world cup started that made the win even more special. First was that the build up to it started more than a year ago. Secondly, nobody gave Australia a chance and India were overwhelming favourites. And lastly, this was surely the last World Cup for the great Sachin Tendulkar. As we later found out, India knocked Australia out of the World Cup and went on to win it! The dream started with a huge win over Bangladesh followed by a nail biting tie against England. India went on to beat Ireland, Netherlands and West Indies on either sides of a defeat to South Africa. Australia in the quarters, arch rivals Pakistan in the semis and second favourites Sri Lanka in the final, path wasn't easy but that team had great potential and more importantly the character and the stomach to face any situation. Everyone stepped up when the team was in need for someone to take responsibility. Whether it be Sachin and Sehwag's runs at the top, solidity of Virat, Gambhir and Yuvraj in the middle order, Zaheer's brilliance with the ball or be it MS's brain, all of it complemented everything to complete the dream. Yuvraj Singh was the man of the tournament and rightly so for his 350+ runs and 15 invaluable wickets. If you read about what he was going through during that period, no! You should probably skip that part! It was horrible!
     But this World Cup win made us forget the horrors of 2007 and also the year after the 2011 World cup. Remember, India lost 4 zip in both England and Australia the following year which was terrible in it's own way but now it barely gets talked about because 2011 is remembered as the World Cup year! That Indian team was a special one which produced a special performance over the course of one and a half months. It is fair to say that India is a country where a common man doesn't always enjoy a peaceful life but for that one night, 2nd of April 2011, majority of the population, if not everyone, was happy and brimming with joy.