Never late to look destiny in the eye (India vs Sri Lanka)

The Men in Blue made us Indians patriotic. Made us passionate. Made us proud. They always had our purse strings and now have our heart and our undying love too.

Do we realize the immense pressure we put on our playing XI to win the World Cup? Does it come from our own shortcomings? Or then perhaps does it come from all those unfulfilled promises made by our politicians?

When the world does an India mapping – India was always meant to be a Super Power nation, to be reckoned with in the world, and yet, on a daily basis, our people are still fighting for their daily bread.

Are we celebrating this victory, because we have nothing more to be proud of as Indians? A victory that after decades of corruption and loot has made our head stand straight on our shoulders with pride, over a sport?

Indeed proud nations like Australia are built on sports, have created an identity for themselves as a super power. Can India do it for itself? Sure can. But will India do it? Somehow I don’t see it happening.

We have a great degree of talent and our playing XI epitomizes the story of India. Dhoni has the will and conviction of a puritan who knows he can do it, a steely resolve to make it happen no matter what. Indians deep inside know this too. The question is when will we allow the Dhoni in us to surface and take the lead?

Yuvi epitomizes the brash talented Indians who are way too much in love with themselves, too busy, with their extra-curricular activities to focus on their strengths; but when they do focus, India comes alive and has every reason to be proud.

The masses of India are like Gauti, who diligently work hard, have a will of making things better, but sometimes take their eye off the ball and get clean bowled- the spine gets broken- momentarily, but being the hard working people, we relentlessly prod on to score a ton in the next round.

The more we speak about our cricketers the more you actually can draw parallels in real life. There is so much self- belief about this team and what a gift it has been for Gary Kirsten, Sachin Tendulkar and all those who have played a massive role in revolutionizing Indian cricket to this level.

I think - the recently concluded World Cup has taught us a lot about healthy competition, being generous in success, having a focus and a leader to transform the ordinary to extra ordinary, honor coming to those who stay devoted, bringing a collective towards a common belief. The underlying truth is simple – Hope gives rise to a will of “can do” - we as a nation can do wonderful things and be proud of. Time to Rise and Shine India, do yourself proud.