Indian Cricket (2001 - 2011), We will miss you

It was 2001 and I was in the first year of my engineering. In my 19 years of existence on the earth, I had been a cricket follower and supporter for as long as I could remember. I remember excitedly waking up to the sound of a TV hearing the words "Kapil Dev" and "97" mentioned in the same breath - and thinking WOW Kapil was on 97, only to discover that the full sentence meant that Kapil was at the crease but India was 97/7.

It was the 90s and that was how life was. India would struggle abroad, India would struggle against quality opposition. And we would take solace in some brilliant individual performances - mostly by Sachin - but also by Azhar, Kumble nd the likes of Jadeja/Robin Singh.

With 1996 arrived a new set of batsmen but the results were yet to show. 1999 we got hammered 3-0 in Australia - predicted not by Glenn McGrath but by the Board Secretary. But it was to be the start of something. VVS had a 167 to show and a group of great young players had been hurt enough. Because by the time that season died out on us, we had a new captain. We got a new coach. And between them Ganguly and Wright laid down the foundations for our best ever years of cricket. The foundation was laid for our best ever generation of players to lay down new benchmarks.

2001 - April 2011 is when Indian Cricket arrived. For someone who woke up to a 97/7 - this golden era was everything one could dream of. It began - as it should have - against the Aussies who were on a 16 match roll. It happened as it should have with our captain setting down the tone for eyeball to eyeball confrontation. When for the first time Aussie arrogance was answered in kind. When for the first time following on two Indian batsmen refused to give up. I remember the headline in the Times of India saying "3 Days 403 runs 14 wickets, 1 day 335 runs No wickets"

It was the start of defiance. It was the start of belief. It was the start of an era.

We reached the WC finals in 2003, We won a Natwest final chasing 326, We beat Pakistan in Pakistan,, We drew in West Indies, We won in West Indies, We won series in England, We won matches in Australia and South Africa. We won at Perth. We kept losing first tests - we kept coming back to even the series. We showed gumption time and again - for the first time ever in this golden period. We won a World Cup - every match when we were down, we fought back. Fight back was the DNA of this team. And this DNA led us to that WC win and a climb to no.1 in the rankings.

The Achilles heel in this entire fight was that it was the same set of players doing the winning. Unlike the Aussie great teams - there was not a seamless structure where if a new player came in, he would settle down with the same ease. And that finally showed. A great batting lineup was exposed in England and crushed in Australia.

When that ball slipped through Dravid's gate for an umpteenth time, when Laxman started facing 30 balls without a boundary for a fluent start, when Sachin started getting out while looking sublime, when Sehwag's patience also could not convert into anything substantial, when Gambhir's grit only meant getting the edge - it was the end of an era.

The denouement might have been sad. The end was a tragedy - for this set of greats knew they had failed themselves of their greatest chance to be recorded in history as conquerors. They will now go, having lost their best chance of a glorious exit. But let that not take away from what has been tremendous time of our cricket following life.

For 2001 - 2011, Thank you. It will take time to rebuild and I am willing to wake up to some more 97/7 as long as there is the promise of another such era. But till then its these memories to cherish