The ghosts of 2003 returned to haunt us again................

23rd March 2003 i can never forget. This was the day when Australian team thrashed our team and our hopes at Johannesburg in the World Cup Final. I was in B. Tech second year (Computer Science branch, IT-BHU) then. We thoroughly enjoyed the Indian team campaign. It started on a very bad note with two pathetic matches against Australia and Netherlands. Against Australia we scored just 125 runs (all out) and against Netherlands we were just 204 runs. Effigies of our players Sourav, Sachin etc were burned, their homes were pelted with stones and some passionate fans even performed the last rites of our team. 

 

Soon our team regrouped and under the leadership of Captain Sourav we started decimating our opponents in every match. We defeated Zimbabwe by 83 runs, Namibia by 181 runs, England by 82 runs and Pakistan by 6 wickets. Ashish Nehra was the Hero against England and he took 6 wickets for 23 runs. Till then i have not seen such an awesome Indian fast bowling.

 

 Sachin's inning against Pakistan has become legend in itself. Sachin hitting Caddick for a mighty six was another highlight. Our campaign continued in super six - defeated Kenya by 6 wickets, Sri Lanka by 183 runs and New Zealand by 6 wickets. Our semi final against Kenya was also a cakewalk with superb inning by Sourav Ganguly.

 

Our excitement knew no bounds and our entire batch like every Indian expected dream win on 23rd March. We made stories finding some random patterns connecting Prince Charles, Pope and Indian team winning world Cup. Zaheer Khan was too much excited in its very first over and this actually exposed our nervousness and our inexperience of not playing finals. Australia on other hand had played 1996 final and 1999 final. Most of the key members of 1999 World Cup winning team also played 2003 final (Ponting, McGrath, Adam Gilchrist etc). This inexperienced and wayward bowling by inform Zaheer Khan and Srinath cost us that match. Match was formally over in first over of Indian inning when Sachin was caught and bowled by McGrath. Though we continued praying as we were catching up with DL score in case if rains but rain also failed us. It was a hugely depressing and demoralizing defeat. We did not smile for few days and our smile only came back when we went on to level Test Series in 2003-04 tour of Australia and defeating Pakistan in Pakistan. Our calculations with what if Sachin had scored century, what if Sehwag was run out, what if it rained in the final and WHAT IS SOURAV DECIDED TO BAT FIRST AFTER WINNING THE TOSS continues....

 

Our team in 2023 World cup was a balanced team but i was always skeptical about Gill, Iyer and Surya Kumar. I had a hunch that they will fail when we need them the most. I discussed this my friends and they almost agreed with me. This world cup campaign was a superb and best world cup campaign by any Indian team. We decimated every team in this world cup including Australia. The energy and team spirit was infectious. 

 

Our group (IT-BHU in between became IIT-BHU) regathered virtually on social media and we were so sure that this time we will take revenge of 2003 loss. But in this most crucial match our middle and lower order batsmen did not rise up to the occasion and we were 40-50 runs short easily. When boundaries are not coming we should have taken single but in this match even singles were not coming easily. Surya Kumar made a big mockery of himself and he has been the biggest disappointment of this World Cup. Even after taking top three wickets our body language were not good enough and we were giving them easy singles. We did not field with the same passion as Australians did.

No words can describe the sinking feeling of all those college going kids of 2003. That final wound never healed and this loss has made it permanent. I have no idea when that 'miracle' will happen when we will defeat Australia in World Cup Final. I hope that we should be able to see it in our own life time. 

 

Thanks Rohit for batting selflessly throughout this World Cup and leading the team with so much passion. As they say 'Some goals are so worthy that it is glorious even to fail' so be it. Thanks Virat for virat memories. Thanks Shami for greatest world cup bowling performance ever, Thanks Rahul, Iyer, Jadeja, Bumrah, Kuldeep and every member of the team. You all have become immortals.

Perhaps we are a country that finds solace in her own defeats. We are a country that find hope and victory even in our most shattered losses.

Hope we will come back.......