The streak finally snapped. It had to, sometime. However, the lackluster performance makes it a harder pill to swallow. Disappointment is the obvious emotion but how does tearing down the players help? We lost a game, a big one. There’s no illusion about how big the game was, especially for a nation that’s brought up on Sunny Deol’s chest-thumping ‘Border’ heroics. But the tournament has just kicked off.
We got many things wrong against Pakistan – quite a few selections, batting order, bowling changes. In fact, the team looked on its heels for the better part of the game. The bowling lacked zip, the fielding was short on enthusiasm, and the batting was devoid of the so-called ‘intent’. But does one bad game make Team India a bad team? Far from it. Does one loss make us fans lose faith in the Men in Blue who’ve been running riot across the globe with multiple series wins?
A few on my timeline have stopped ‘feeling’ for Team India since the 2003 World Cup. It’s damn rich coming from a generation who’ve grown up on the right-arm-it-doesn’t-spin of Ashish Kapoor and the ‘express’ pace of Abey Kuruvilla and Harvinder Singh. This Indian team is one of the best the country has ever produced. The ones with nostalgia-tinted glasses may not like the in-your-face, foot-on-the-throat nature of this squad but this is what winners look like. Remember how scared we were of Ricky Ponting’s side?
But what are we really complaining about? The captain’s behaviour? Someone called Virat Kohli a ‘punk’ on social media. The Indian skipper has entered the much-famed – “You Either Die A Hero, Or You Live Long Enough To See Yourself Become The Villain” – mode. We don’t like him anymore. We want him out. We can’t wait to see someone new come out to flip the coin for India. The lust for a new shiny toy has finally caught up with one of India’s most successful leader. We hate his emotional outbursts now, but we safely sidetrack his warm embrace of the two young Pakistani openers. We unsee it because it doesn’t fit the narrative. He’s a punk after all.
It’s a familiar situation, they all have been there — Sachin Tendulkar was an eyesore, Sourav Ganguly overstayed his welcome, Rahul Dravid, well he was the one we liked and his good behaviour really helped us in 2007. And then there’s MS Dhoni. We are still debating whether he just got lucky with the titles or someone fixed them for him.
But I digress. The game against Pakistan was a warning for Team India. They need to sort their selection out, choose form over reputation. However, the game once again exposed a (toxic?) fan base that’s far removed from the game. We have won this game 12 times in ICC World Cups, but this one loss has suddenly overshadowed every single one of them because 12-1 doesn’t have the ring of 13-nil! It’s always nice to beat your arch-rivals but won’t it be better to win the tournament? If India can figure out their playing eleven and go on to win the trophy, will this game even matter? Maybe it will. Maybe that’s what we really care about. Isn’t it a complete waste of a Sunday evening if we can’t update our socials with – Baap, baap hota hai!
Fuck you, Virat Kohli! You robbed us. You robbed us of our social media updates. Tonight we can’t fight with ‘them’ in YouTube’s comment section. Tonight they are the boss – both on Coke Studio and in cricket. You couldn’t make it count the one game we cared about. Who cares if you make it to yet another semifinal?
You couldn’t beat thy neighbour! FFS!
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