25 June 1983, a day that Indian cricket could never forget. On a fine morning at the Mecca of cricket -Lords- (in The Times' words) "Kapil's men turn world upside down". This was the day, when the cannon fodder had turned cannon. This was the day, on which India not only stunned the world to beat world champions and the most feared outfit, West Indies, but also inspired several thousands of children back home take cricket as a sport. That proved to be the foundation for Indian cricket to uplift themselves to the next level.
28 years later, on 2nd April 2011, after a long long wait, Indians ; all from cricketers to citizens, finally got a chance again to get the same feeling again, to celebrate like never before. To shout in glee at the topmost of their voice. India had done it again. With a six from skipper MS Dhoni in the final, India had become World Champions! There was a joy to get the reputed title and there was hope that this victory will do something that the win of 1983 world cup did to Indian cricket, that it will generate new lease of interest and passion amongst the people especially children and young cricketers towards the game .
1 year down the line, the fact is exactly opposite to what one would have expected. Since the tournament, India had their moment to cherish, it is this period when Sehwag scored 219 in ODI, the highest ODI individual score ever or during which Sachin had scored his much awaited (369 days to be precise) 100th ton and it is this period where India had chased over 300 score in 37 overs at Hobart. However, for most of this period, India performance has taken a huge beating.
India's first international series after the triumph came when they visited West Indies after IPL 4 which started almost immediately after the world cup. India huffed and puffed and finally managed to beat the rivals in the tests but the fact that India, the then world no.1 test team decided not to go for the kill when they needed only 86 from 15 overs surprised one and all. After all that isn't expected from a world no. team, in fact from any team at playing at the highest level.
Indian team then took their flight to England where, the visitors not only lost their world no.1 rank but their reputation went for a toss. On the very first day of the tour, team's main bowler Zaheer Khan was seen tumble out from the Indian closet before MS Dhoni had to give away his gloves and roll his arm over. It raised questions about the management in Indian cricket, and this was just the start. The visitors were thrashed in all departments, be it batting, bowling and fielding in the test series barring the old horse and Mr. Dependable, Rahul Dravid who played beautifully to score tons where none of his partner could survive long enough to even save a match. Virender Sehwag even managed to get a king pair in Birmingham. It was the turn of ODI series then. The height of fear of non-performance could be judged by the fact that the selectors chose to draft Rahul Dravid who had not played a single ODI for 2 years till then as he was the only batsman who had performed well on the tour. Unfortuantely for them, the players changed, the format changed but the fate didn't. India lost all the matches of ODI series alongwith the T20 match and returned home empty handed before India pretty much returned the favor to the Britishers on their (India's) home soil.
This was expected to do wonders to the confidence of the side as they went for the tour down under but their nightmare wasn't too short. India's performance nosedived once again and were clueless against the home team. If Dravid was India's only rescue man in England, here it was young Virat Kohli who scored a hundred in the series, the lone from an Indian batsman in the series. This was followed by CB Series in the format which, Indians proudly say, are world champions of failed to repeat their performance of 2008 edition of the tournament and crashed out of the tournament by losing miserably against the rival teams. Similar thing happened as they played Asia Cup in Bangladesh recently with India's tally at 19 wins, 11 loses and 2 tie/draw/cancelled matches from 31 ODIs they played after the world cup.
Amidst all this, India had also got something to smile. Talented players in Kohli, Vinay and Yadav have performed very well and are seen as the future of Indian cricket. Now, after the drubbings and a painful year for the team, with no international series for next couple of months, lets hope takes this time to improve themselves and that they gets up from the low like a phoenix and once again play like what it suits a champion!
In the end, lets have a look at the performance of the key players of the world cup winning team in ODIs after the tournament:
M.S. Dhoni: Dhoni's performance as a captain has been away from the mark but with an average of 103.42 from 20 matches and a tally of 924 runs, he has performed brilliantly as a batsman which includes many unbeaten innings which has also quite clearly helped up his average.
Suresh Raina: The UP dasher had underperformed in the overseas on bouncy tracks but has performed well on slow low wickets of the subcontinent as he always has been in his career and has scored 612 runs from 31 games at an average of 32.48
Virat Kohli: The youngster from Delhi has impressed one and all. He has been in form of his life time and played outstanding cricket. With a total of 1636 runs from 31 matches at an average of 60.49 which included 6 centuries, Virat has been by far the most consistent batsman for India.
Yuvraj Singh: Yuvraj, or Yuvi as he is fondly called was the main reason for India being the champions. The man of the tournament had almost singlehandedly sealed a place for his team into the final of world cup. Yuvraj was diagnosed of cancer and is currently undergoing for the treatment for the same. He haven't been able to play a single game after the world cup but is expected to return soon to the professional cricket.
R. Ashwin: Ashwin, who had done a commendable job in the tournament and looked off color for most of the 26 ODIs he played he played after the world cup and managed to pick 33 wickets and has given 193 runs in the process.
Zaheer Khan: The best pacer of Indian team has struggled with fitness after the tournament and thus has managed to play only 4 matches in which he got only 5 wickets at a whopping average of 39.40 runs.
Virender Sehwag: The flamboyant Delhiite has failed to impress anyone with his show and has been out of form. His prolonged lack of form led the selectors to give him a boot. Sehwag has scored 330 runs at an average of 36.66 in 9 matches which includes his record breaking 219 run innings against West Indies.
Harbhajan Singh: The onus was on Harbhajan to lead the attack from the front being the experienced and strike bowler for the team. Harbhajan has bowled pretty accurately but haven't been able to pick up wickets which is required at the highest level and has paid the price by losing his place from the team. Bhajji has played just 4 games in which he has managed to get 5 wickets an average of 26.75.
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