Hoping for an Encore

(Source: Internet)

Four years is not a small period of time. So many things have changed in last four years. So many new faces has appeared in our life, so many faces have gone to the darkness. The world is a completely new place now. But still it feels like yesterday when I start replaying the events of 2^nd April 2011 in my mind. As this was the day when the previous cricket World Cup was ended with India becoming the biggest star in the biggest party hosted by them!

I still remember the excitement before that match, the tension felt in that day. Events of that evening are still fresh in my memory. I still remember how I switched off the television set after India lost Sehwag and Sachin at the beginning of their chase. I remember how I made my mother sit through the last 25 overs of the match in one position because when previously she moved from there India lost Virat Kohli. My father ended up cooking for us that night. The night of my team’s greatest victory since I was born.

Now four years later we are just two hours away from another cricket World Cup. The game has changed. IPL has become more and more imperative in world cricket. The last few links of my childhood with the Indian team has left their ground one by one. The team has been beaten in foreign condition again and again. And now, even I suspect of matches to be fixed or controlled by external factors at time to time. I know we have a bowling attack which is as bad as Sunny Deol’s dancing and a batting line up which can collapse any day.

Still it’s a World Cup which will be starting in less than 120 minutes and hence I am hopeful. I am seeing the dream again. I am again praying for my country. I know the first match against Pakistan can convert to a bonus or a nightmare depending on whether we win or lose. But even if we lose that I will not lost hope on Kohlis and Rahanes. And I know we just need to qualify for the Quarter finals. From there it’s a three round knockout battle.

All the best my team India. Play well. Give us some memories to cherish in many more years to come.

#bleedblue (I like this more than this year’s tagline)