It ain't over until it's over - T20 World Cup 2016

My heartiest Congratulations to Team India on making into the semis of T20 World Cup. Now we exit the Round Robin and enter the knock out phase. Next stop - Wankhede with the Windies in Mumbai, arguably the cricket capital of a nation where Cricket is a religion, a la Soccer in Brazil. We do have an advantage over them, who are too much dependent on their master blaster Chris Gayle.

An avid cricket fan of Team India, I am glad with their performance in T20 so far and wish them to win the coveted Cup. Though resurgent and we got the momentum behind us, I would rather hold my Champagne until the team actually lifts the Cup. As the Baseball legend Yogi Berra said - it ain't over, until it's over. If we get pass the Windies hurdle, our next likely opponent would be New Zealand, who have comprehensibly beaten us earlier in the tournament.

 

With hope comes tremendous expectation. As sports fans we are known to be highly emotional, our emotions swinging faster than a Pendulum. Often our reactions in defeats and victories veers in the borderline of immaturity. It's not unusual for the Houses of our Heroes to be stoned and effigies burnt - some like Yuvraj Singh and Ravi Shastri, very much part and parcel of the current team, have been there, seen that. There is no guarantee of history not repeating itself.  For the same fans it won't take long to switch from Bouquets to Brickbats.

 

As a cautionary note we should not forget in the Euphoria of recent success, our dependency on Virat Kohli, the glue of the team, who reminds me of the heydays of Sachin Tendulkar. He is treated as a God, could give run for money to both Narendra Modi  and Amitabh Bacchan at their peak of popularity. But even Gods are known to fail. Our fighting spirit, never say say die attitude not withstanding, there are still chinks in armor in our batting. Our bowling department woes aren't over. A couple of overs can change the direction of the game - such are the vagaries of T20 cricket.

 

There are plenty of mockery of the losing Australian team going on media, social or otherwise. Just a reminder - this is not our last and final ever encounter with the Aussies. What goes around comes around. Also, as of 8 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 27th of March, 2016, Australia have a far better cricketing history in the history of cricket than us. 

 

Australia, a nation 1/60th the population of India has represented in World cups of Soccer, Hockey, Rugby, produced World Class Athletes, Swimmers and Tennis player, hosted Olympics more than once and not to mention, wins tons of medals in Olympics. They also play Cricket.  A great sporting team deserves a sporting sent off, due credit should be given where credit is due. By mocking them, we are making a mockery of ourselves.