This World Cup was not like the one in 1983, this time India was the best team, a clear favorites who justified their position by winning the cup. I am not saying that it was any mean achievement; but the win in 1983 was far more dramatic, since India defeated teams which had a much stronger line-up as compared to them.
Over all the world cup was quite predictable (England being the only exception) and largely ordinary with no real stars emerging out of the concept. It was notable that not many first timers left the mark for us to believe that they would be legends in the years to come. However, what was interesting was the manner in which two heroes of my generation started and ended the tournament. It started with the cover drive from Sehwag and ended with Dhoni smashing the ball for the maximum.
What was unfortunate was the Indian behavior. During the match against Pakistan and the Sri Lanka, I was disgusted by the group of people in the stands abusing the players and their nation and others joining the chorus gleefully. It seemed like the match had given them the right to legitimate their need to vent their personal frustrations in public and project them on others. I also saw youngsters on two wheelers shouting obscene comments against the two nations after their team had won the match. I am not sure if cricket had been prayed like that had India lost any of these matches.
Considering that many of the unruly incidents during international matches in the past have happened in Mumbai, all they are doing is to project themselves as the most unruly crowd in India. But considering Mumbai's twin focus on unaccounted money and greed with the tasteless culture and excesses of bollywood this aspect should not be a surprise. The Mumbai crowd indulges in organised buffoonery, eve teasing and racial comments and that has become quite a norm.
Its scary for me to think what this kind of sporting excesses would do to India's already fragile sense of self-esteem which is a very depressing thought as an Indian. Grace is rapidly leaving our culture. Many of the people, especially the youth, flooding the streets displaying their newfound enlightenment and exuberance with no grace makes me think that they do not deserve this team or the cup.
There were far more innocent times in Indian cricket where a win in the world cup would have been of much more value to the national psyche than merely being reduced to just another chest-thumping way of announcing yourself into the world's consciousness.
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