Still Proud To Be Wearing BLUE ??

Well so history does repeat itself and like Kapils Dhoni’s devils too fail to retain the cup which was so rightfully theirs the last time around. The Indian fan has started to sharpen its knife ready to slice open the team. Dhoni’s “Honeymoon it seems is over”, his luck seems to be faded out. India has been labeled as back home bullies and Blue suddenly is not a colour you would want to wear.

The postmortem/ analysis shall continue in papers and news channel alike and people like Sidhu and Saba Karim along with others who have faded away shall try scything the current team all for their 5 minutes of glory. What Went Wrong suddenly seems to have become the national pastime.

Take a few steps back now to 2007. The team is in turmoil, we were knocked out by Bangladesh. Dravid stepped down from captaincy and the fans had lost belief in the team. What Dhoni really did in 2007 was not just winning the cup it was more than that. He made the Indian fan believe that their team could achieve miracles. He gave the supporters a reason to not let go of their favorite team. What the team of 2007 did was give us hope that we would again rise as a cricketing superpower. It gave the country what it needed the most at that time – HOPE. Thanks to the hope and new found belief we found ourselves boasting that we could retain the cup. Never before (at least till the time I have followed Indian Cricket) have we been labeled tournament favorites so unanimously.

The belief led us to victories in Australia and allowed us to conquer New Zealand. Yes we did loose some matches but we were then winning too often to remember the lost ones. The “Honeymoon” was supposed to end in New Zealand and it continued. But then some say we won matches out of sheer luck.

It is not that I am not disappointed. I am. But the main reason to that was not because we just hoped we could win this time. We believed that we would win. This was never quite found in the Indian fan ever before. Believing – it takes a great deal to make someone believe in you. It is something not just done by “LUCK”, “Having a Honeymoon period” or “Being Arrogant”. It’s taken us 2 years to believe in out team and we can’t just let it die off due a single dent to that belief.

The team gave us hope when we as supporter needed it the most and now it is our turn to show them the support in times when they need it the most. Last time around we jammed the road to get the glimpse of our hero’s, lets not degrade the act by burning effigies this time.

So, still proud to be wearing blue?

I Am.