Yes, I am feeling bad. I am feeling very bad, I admit. But maybe, that is because the hopes were too high. That is because I have been glued to TV, hotstar, mobile phone the whole day to stay up to date on what’s happening on each ball. That is because I, and we, expect from cricket a little too much. This is because I, and we, love it too much. That is because in India, cricket is not just a game, it’s an emotion. It’s a delicate emotion rather.
My 4-year-old nephew is still laughing like he was before the match and I am like, how can he laugh after such a heartbreaking moment? The answer is simple: He doesn’t care about it yet. He has no hopes, on expectations from cricket, Virat or Dhoni like I do.
From stumbling at six wickets down below 100 to fighting it to just 18 runs short and keeping hopes and goosebumps alive till the second last over. That’s heroic, I would say.
I could have diverse views from many who would read this. There could be numerous suggestions and improvements areas from the team, for the players from the experts. But those 11 are the ones who are there on the ground, the ones who know the reality, the ones who know what they can do and cannot and I believe there is nothing those guys don’t know about cricket they should.
Dear Team India, yes (with a heavy heart) we couldn’t win, but we played well. I repeat, we played amazingly well. It still would be a sad moment that only time would heal, but surely a proud moment.
10/7/19-The day which saw 1.3 billion tears.