This too shall pass!

It felt as if Rohit Sharma would never go down As if his Blue Brigade would never go down standing there clinging desperately to the coveted crownSharma smiled clapped bawled smirked swore panicked sighed and teared up all in the same orderTrying to figure out where Indian cricket and its exploits fit into the fabric of the world is a popular topic but for one evening at least there was this unexpected truth All around the world sports fans of every kind were inspired by the performance of the 36yearold Mumbaikar In a lossThe ending was cruel but then so is the game or any game for that matter Team Indiarsquos captivating run in the World Cup stopped here at Ahmedabadrsquos giant Motera stadium as fivetime champions Australia carried on with their spotless reputation and took destiny in their own hands once againThere were very few fireworks to light up the Indian skies Sharma cut a dejected figure as Glenn Maxwell closed in like a oneman elephant stampede A few metres away from the nonstrikerrsquos end Marnus Labuschange shove his bat under his armpit and went first to Virat Kohli extending a gloved hand and polite thanks accepting the latterrsquos congratulationsThe invaders thus arrived in waves first overjoyed teammates then highstrung security personnel photographers and officials Australiarsquos matchwinner Travis Head was oddly stoic among the whirl of dancing bodies as the stench of failure hung as heavily as the humid air in the Indian dressing roomAlso ReadWhen obsession knows no boundsTry as he might Sharma could not keep the poignancy from creeping into his voice as he addressed the media later that nightThe result has not gone our way and we know that we were not good enough on the day But Im proud of the team With 240 on the board we wanted early wickets but credit to Travis Head and Marnus They put us completely out of the game and I thought the wicket got better to bat on under the lightsrdquo he saidA billion fans went silent as India was plunged into darkness with none to rescueIndiarsquos lsquoonly badrsquo day on the field came totally out of the clouds as nearly every pundit and every bookmaker expected Sharma and Co to lift the shiny trophy but alasWith all of its advantages over their global competitors how did India fail to win the World Cup The question has divided the Indian cricket community ever since Some have blamed subpar shot selection and fatal misfields Others have questioned Indiarsquos pitch tactics And some have just said that the side had a bad game that must be consigned to oblivionldquoIt was all about the pitch Nothing there at Motera favoured us I knew a win wouldnrsquot be easy just when Rohit bhaiya lost the toss But to my surprise Patty Pat Cummins decided to field first We were too naive to understand But as the game progressed we understood they made the right decision to field first I still remember how Bhaiya told Shastri Sir Ravi Shastri that he would have bowled first had he won the toss People are saying Australia played better than us but it all starts with tactics They outplayed us not just physically but in every way possiblerdquo Junaid Khan a districtlevel cricketer told MidDayMoterarsquos pitch which appeared drier and slower than expected played its part in Indiarsquos defeat Sharmas approach didnt adapt well especially in the second innings when the ground conditions took a sharp turn failing to leverage the slower nature in their favourAlso ReadCheers to tearsThe result will follow the likes of Rohit and Kohli for the rest of their playing days but the failure was far from theirs alone feels Rounak Sadhwani an independent tech entrepreneur who watched the disaster unfold from the standsldquoThe entire nation was defeated It should be called a day of mourning I could not process all that was happening before my eyes This tells you anything is possible in cricket They played some good cricket throughout the tournament unfortunately the final match didnrsquot go our way Letrsquos just call it a bad day that we had no control over I think it is easy to forget if we think like thisrdquo he explainedHowever Sadhwanirsquos friend Balwinder Sahni grimaced with displeasure time and again Upset at Indiarsquos dramatic batting collapse in the final he explained how Indiarsquos fielding as well as batting contrasted sharply with AustraliasldquoAll this while everyonersquos been talking highly of our top and middle order They stood exposed again What is the point of hitting fours and sixes if you fall for such a poor shot selection And then you are the captain opener the team relies on you how could he play that risky shot is beyond my understanding It was the same old story with the bat at last What could our bowlers have done If you havenrsquot batted nicely at least field well Itrsquos utter stupidity to expect our bowlers to win us the matches each time no thatrsquos not how cricket is playedrdquo said Sahni