The Benefits of Sachin Not Scoring a 100 In The WC Final

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There is more to Indian cricket beyond Sachin Tendulkar. He may have dominated the headlines for all sorts of records over the last two decades but this World Cup final was not just about him. The World Cup has been his burning desire since childhood and he gave it his everything like he does once in four years but it wasn’t won by him alone even though the 31,000 crowd at the Wankhede wanted him to score his 100th international ton on his home turf.

The World Cup might be his now, though not just his, and the final was certainly not about him. It was about the skillful Zaheer, about the uncomplicated Munaf, about the new avatar of Yuvraj, about the determined Gambhir, about a promising Virat Kohli, about the leader Dhoni and about 120 crore other people of the country.

After the World Cup was won almost all Indian players dedicated the cup to Sachin Tendulkar. In fact, even weeks before the tournament started players had started saying that it’s his last World Cup and they want to win it for him.

Were the celebrations and the enjoyment overshadowed by the fact that this meant a lot to Sachin and that it was mostly about him, this being his last World Cup? Most of the post-match discussions were about him, all players were asked about him and what this meant to him, all the players wanted to dedicate this to him, all pictures had Sachin all over them, the newspapers had his pictures on the front page showing him in front of Gateway of India even 48 hours after winning the trophy and of course our ‘sensible’ TV channels also had nothing else to show as usual.

No doubt it was most disheartening and frightening to see Sachin’s wicket fall that evening as I saw it in the stadium itself as there was pin-drop silence for a few minutes. But it was nothing less than a pleasure to see that in the World Cup Final, which must have been the most important match of the players, the youngsters stood up and performed.

Yuvraj took the ball once again as the fifth bowler and broke the crucial Sanga-Jaya partnership which could have taken them closer to 300 and gave runs at less than 5/over. Munaf did not take a single wicket or bowl a single maiden but not many realized that despite being criticized the most, he had the most economical figures. The deadly duo of Raina and Kohli saved at least 20-25 runs which made our chase easier. Kohli played like a matured and experienced player and made crucial 35 runs and then the match-winning knock from Gambhir who came to the pitch when the scorecard said 0-1 and made the most runs under pressure. If I had to make a sequel of True Grit, I would star Gautam Gambhir in it.

Ever since Sachin, Ganguly and Dravid were the spine of our batting in ODIs, we have been wondering how they will be replaced. Now, only the first one is left in the team and I’m more than happy to say that the baton is being passed on to some responsible cricketers. Sachin played only two ODIs in 2010 and still our team’s performance was consistent.

Coming back to the World Cup, it was exhilarating to see these youngsters play some fantastic cricket and that it wasn’t yet another victory just because of Sachin. It very well could have been…But a part of me says, I’m glad it wasn’t.

Mind you, I am not taking any credit away from the senior players like Sachin, Zaheer, Dhoni or Yuvraj, I am only giving a lot of credit to these youngsters which they deserve…