TonyBecca
THE 2003 World Cup of cricket ended in Johannesburg on Sunday and as Sourav Ganguly, captain of India, said minutes after the final, hats off to Australia who retained the title in style.
In a superb demonstration of their supremacy, Australia, after losing the toss and sent to bat before a capacity crowd, blazed their way to a massive 359 for two and then routed India for 234 in 40 overs to win by a commanding 125 runs.
Led by Ricky Ponting, who hit eight massive sixes while scoring 140 not out off 121 deliveries, by Damien Martyn, who scored 88 not out off 84 deliveries, and by Glenn McGrath, who cut down Sachin Tendulkar in the first over of India's innings, the Aussies were awesome and so dominant that India's newspapers not only heaped praise on the Australians but also sympathised with India.
In fact, instead of lambasting the players as they usually do whenever India fail to perform, the newspapers also praised India.
"It's official," said the Indian Express. "The Australians are the best one-day team, the Indians are second best. The Cup not ours but raise a toast."
"Take heart," said the Hindustan Times, "our boys are special. Australia deserve to be champions, and our boys, equally as much, deserve to be in the final. Well done."
That is high praise for Australia, and remembering that both right-arm legspinner Shane Warne and pacer Jason Gillespie were absent, they deserve every bit of it.
It is also high praise for India, and even though they were out of it from early with Australia chipping to 100 without loss at a pace of over seven runs an over after they were sent to bat, they too deserve every bit of it.
Apart from reaching the final, they won eight matches in a row, they lost only to Australia, with their victory over Pakistan, Tendulkar's batting up to the final, and the bowling of pacers Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra before the final as examples, they played some wonderful cricket and were undoubtedly the next best team in the tournament.
On top of that and to their credit, even though they were dying before they started their reply, although, with Tendulkar falling for four, they were dead and left only to be buried before the end of the first over, they kept going, and thanks particularly to Virender Sehwag, who smashed three sixes while scoring 82 off 81 deliveries before he was run out, gave the fans a nice time - including their own.
Like the newspapers, India's fans accepted the odds against them, welcomed their efforts, and cheered them to the end.
The one disappointment was that the showdown within the showdown, Tendulkar versus Brett Lee, did not take place.
A great batsman up against a bowler of real speed, exciting strokes or flying stumps, would really have brought the World Cup to a thrilling climax.
Unfortunately for the fans, and despite the odds against them at that stage, probably unfortunately also for India, Tendulkar was in too much of a hurry and was not around when Lee, probably also looking forward to the confrontation, took the ball for the second over of the innings.
