T20I WORLD CUP: AN AMALGAMATION OF PARALLEL JOURNEYS OF ACHIEVEMENTS AND UNDER-ACHIEVEMENTS

The cup is over. Over to pass itself into a new pair of hands. A deserving pair of hands. Yet to someone who already have had its taste. All this after some of the most exhilarating exhibition of this old ball game in a modern format, whose invention was based on the same principle as of today’s most vital norm – importance of time is paramount. Yet it managed to produce some of the most poignant cricketing moments in recent memory amidst the hara-kiri nature of the format. Not to mention its success, which was somewhat guaranteed beforehand due to India being its venue and the progress of India into knock-outs and some gritty cricket on challenging surfaces ensured it absolutely.

The vibrant palette of the vivid emotions, which were on display, were the shadows or reflections of what each of their followers and well-wishers were experiencing, as they treaded the tipsy-curvy path of this format. It’s utterly unpredictable nature took them on a voyage of bated breaths, serrated heart beats, the voice boxes producing a plethora of sounds ranging from quiet self-whispers to vociferous analysis of what went wrong and a trembling, vulnerable soul of a cricket fan inside every person, however unconcerned they may be from outside, rooting for his nation for being on the right side of the narrow line of uncertainty, which makes cricket a religion of at least a billion.

And it’s not just the metaphors. It is quite close to a broader perception of what religion is to the mere mortals. Religions are long being identified with the staggering number of miracles, each of them imbibes in it. And miracles born out of the uncertainty of what is going to happen and how far will they deviate from our expectations. And when they deviate so significantly that the unexpected happens, we call them miracles. And cricket has plenty of scope for such miracles to happen.

The Oranje was in disarray, neither being able to streamline their emotional desperation, nor being able to ascertain the cause of it. Their leader was in tears, reminiscent of a poor child, whose each and everything was plundered by the bandits(weather) after luring him in with a chunk of cake and that too after he lost his way in the wood after being put on the trail naively without properly equipping him to absorb the shock of initial sights of peril. Like that child, they were left with regrets and a sense of gross injustice with no chances of a shot at redemption.

When these ‘rank outsiders’ of the world of cricket called for a more empathetic approach by ICC towards them, they appeared as whining baby to the great guardians of the cricket who blame their incompetence on other factors and find it hard to digest the logic behind more opportunities for them when they are simply not good enough. But they yearned like an orphan who has been gradually bereaved by their parent body and reduce them to those opening fireworks in an Indian marriage, which only has a momentary shot at a glowing flame before it fades into mere ashes crushed by the participants. And as a new round of fireworks is needed, another of the batch is called upon. And for all the enthusiasm they show towards such an unrewarding task of burning out, a single failure to burn and glow leads to a “not good enough” tag.

As the Irish and the co. of associate world hoped that their emotions packed pleas will melt the rock solid hearts of their authorities and the welcome support of some of the stalwarts of the cricket will be a huge boost to bargain their chances of getting enough opportunity and support in an extremely bleak future, another of their associate mate went on to put their stance in an entirely different way. Those spirited warriors from Afghanistan brushed aside the challenge of a full member (Zimbabwe) in such an emphatic manner, it created a sense of bewilderment that who was the actual full member in that match after all. The step up of the Super 10s didn’t bring any sense of awe in them, an extremely surprising sign for a team which didn’t exist few years back. They gave an almighty scare to each of Sri Lanka, England and Proteas before pulling off the biggest upset of the tournament, as the eventual champions surrendered to the spirits of a 17 year old spinner, a shrewd off spinning all-rounder, an enterprising leg spinning all-rounder, a marauding yet humbling character in their wicket-keeper as well as a skipper, who has full faith on his team.

The pre-favourites, who were playing on the home turf, were given a taste of their own medicine by the flying Kiwis as the ploy of providing slow turners in even a T20 backfired. Whereas the Kiwi continued to fly through, suffocating their oppositions with hefty doses of stifling spin and some brilliant instinctive captaincy from arguably the classiest batsmen in business, India lifted their game and the timely wake-up call erased every complacency. Their intelligent skipper understood that wins are going to be come through scrapping and smart cricket and their ever reliable number 3 took the mantle single-handedly to propel his team towards the semi-finals. Though the road to the semis was full of hurdles, India breathed air to their campaign with a win over the arch rival ever increasing customary fashion. Though that led to the clash of the tournament as their eastern neighbour almost did a repeat of their 2007 ODI WC exploits. Almost. Because an inexplicably horror melt down on the verge denied them yet another famous win and it was like rebirth for India after all hopes of survival were lost.

They inhaled as much of air as they could as they recovered from that almighty scare to earn a meticulous victory over the Kangaroos. The chief architects of these victories, Messer’s Virat Kohli and skipper MSD were the constant bright spots of an overall underachieving campaign. The astute tactician and cool nerves in him are still impact and as potent as it has been for the large part of his careers and he really put a zip on the mouth of his detractors. On the other hand Kohli just really justified his Man of the Tournament Award by some distance. The bowling department also shone through barring those final 10 overs at Wankhede against Windies. But apart from that, others didn’t put their hands up.

Kangaroos could neither settle on a batting order nor on a winning note. Barring, Usman Khawaja – who demonstrated what a technically correct long format player can achieve in this mad cap format, none of them put up a sustained show. Life was incredibly difficult for Pakistan under a ‘clueless’ captain as they invariably spiralled towards crucial batting collapses and internal rifts in management and lack of coherence, not to mention the most pathetic display of fielding by a team in this tournament as Afghanistan was way better than them in spite of having lesser facilities and opportunities. Bangla Tigers cleared the first round with ease, albeit a Tamim Iqbal blinder was needed to secure a victory against the spirited Dutch. But things went downhill there on for them and they finished as the only winless team in Super 10s.

Group 2 started with a Chris Gayle cracker and ended with a selfie of appreciation by him with their conquerors as the final match of the group was as inconsequential as one you’ve ever seen, so much to the point that the Lankans and Proteas players were never in the ground mentally for the whole match. And that was the only one. And that speaks volume of the thrill which this event was able to produce. The edge of the seat contests of all Afghanistan matches as well as the epic run fest at Wankhede between the Poms and the Proteas were the right USP for the tourney and the underwhelming performances by South Africa and Sri Lanka propelled the unfancied England and the entertainer Windies to the Semis.

While the First Semi-final was an anticlimactic affair with the neutral favourites Kiwis getting an unexpected yet perfectly conceivable hiding from the Poms in general and Jason Roy in particular, the other one was a bizarre clash. A clash of cricketing ideologies. The gauging of the pitch, consolidation, perfect cricketing strokes, conversion of half runs into full ones by lightening quick running and use of soft hands led India to post a challenging total in the most cricketing-ly sensible way as possible. But the marauders from the Caribbean just overpowered this score by their ‘hit out of the park’ ideology, even after Gayle and Samuels went for nothing. The power hitter just kept coming and before India could reign in their tempo, everything was over for them.

And that too before even Carlos Brathwaite (REMEMBER THE NAME) came into crease, as he showed in the final that he is the next hot property in the Windies Cricket. The gritty innings of the man of the finals (only), Marlon Samuels and that last over carnage of Carlos off a poor Ben Stokes, who had bowled the final over whole tournament with great conviction gave Windies its second T20I WC. They were also the first ODI WC second time. It’s no secret everything went downhill for them from there on and they must be optimistic about no such happening in a format they are virtually reigning. Well played England though.

It was enthralling, if not majestic. It was enticing, if not the classiest. And it showed that for all its criticism, T20 is here to stay. What it needs is a different viewpoint and end of comparisons with the longest format. Cricket is thrilling, if played with perfect vigour and skills are expressed uninhibitedly. And those poor orphans need the support of the Big Brothers if we want this great game to expand and flourish and become truly global. Those two winners were majestic. West Indies and Afghanistan- the conquerors and conquerors of conquerors. And what an unprecedented ‘celebration’ that was, which must’ve put soccer players to shame!!

Cheers!