India Beats Sri Lanka To Win Cricket World Cup

In India everything has a tendency to get mixed up with Bollywood. Sachin was named after a Bollywood musician. That should tell you.

One way you know I grew up in Nepal and not India is I don't "get" cricket. I tend to only watch the highlights. Even then I pay as much attention to the background music as to the game. But I hear cricket has also taken over Nepal since I left. My thing is soccer. Note Sachin's Maradona hair. Sachin wears the number 10 shirt, just like Pele and Maradona.

Cricket is to India what soccer is to Brazil. I grew up watching people glued to their radio sets following audio commentaries of ongoing cricket matches.


































The Guardian: India's World Cup cricket victory: the measure of a nation: First India beat Pakistan, the old sporting enemy, and then trumped Sri Lanka in the final – a win that is being tied to a national coming of age ..... It is 28 years since India last won this most cherished of titles in a nation so crazy about the game. ...... Mohinder Amarnath, the man of the match in the 1983 World Cup, is certain, however, that the moment has arrived to repeat his team's success. Every Indian can realise their dreams through the 11 men on the field today, he says. ..... In the street outside, a truck thunders by, horn blaring, Indian flags fluttering in from the cab. The picture is repeated across the country; millions are glued to their televisions or radios, donning their replica shirts, daubing themselves in the national colours. India is partying; each successful delivery from its bowlers greeted by a round of beating drums. The country that has made cricket its national game is certain that this year, finally, it will capture the ultimate prize, the World Cup. ...... This is a nation demanding international approval: buoyed by the news that projections now show it will overtake China as the world's most populous nation by 2030, there is a sense that its time has come. ...... As Saturday dawned, prayers were said, puja [offerings to the gods] were made, anything to give the Indian team an edge. Across the country, people painted themselves in the blue of the national team strip or in the orange, white and green of the flag, and prepared to party. ...... the nation gathered anywhere that a television was on, peering over each other's shoulders to catch a glimpse of the match. ....... Then a nation of – according to the new census figures – 1.2 billion fell silent as top batsman Sehwag fell to the second ball of the Indian innings. ..... Gautam Gambhir, the Indian batsman who stabilised the nation's innings after the loss of influential opener Sehwag ..... For India, the desire to be taken seriously by other nations in sport is perhaps more important than diplomatic point-scoring. Like its neighbour China, it has been unable to translate a mass of bodies into international sporting success. In terms of international trade, it has come on in leaps and bounds, yet still it is unable to project that power into other fields. ..... One fan, Ritangshu Bhattacharya, from Delhi, assured journalists that he would be attempting to tip the odds in India's favour by defying nature: "I won't pee in the entire match… I feel whenever I go to the loo, a wicket falls or India drops a catch." ........ one politician from the state of Madhya Pradesh, who stood from 10am to 10pm during the India-Pakistan match. ...... It is 10.45pm, and MS Dhoni, the Indian captain, is hammering the ball to the boundary again. Six to win, two overs. There are fireworks going off everywhere, drowning out the commentary. India knows it has won. It is the Pakistan game all over again: victory from defeat, India defiant. ..... Six runs, and he smacks it over the boundary. The fireworks explode. In the cities, there is madness; in the villages, too, people are hugging and screaming. The firecrackers are exploding, the night a blur of colour. India wins.

Sachin Tendulkar helps India past Pakistan and into World Cup final: There is a scenario that has Sachin Tendulkar hitting his 100th international century in his home town and winning the World Cup for the first time in the process. ...... This was a pragmatic victory by the India team. Unusually it was their discipline rather than their flair that saw them over the line. Only when Virender Sehwag was at the crease, in the first 40 minutes of the game, was there enchantment in the air. He pulverised the new ball for 38 from 25 balls. Thereafter even Tendulkar, who hit a flawed 85, was struggling to time the ball with his usual panache. ...... it was Tendulkar, the man of the match for one of his less convincing innings, who enabled India to post 260. ....... India's 260 for nine had proved just enough, such was their excellence in the field. When Sehwag was batting a total beyond 300 seemed on the cards. He tormented Umar Gul to such an extent that the lanky seamer, the stalwart of the Pakistan attack, lost the plot. Nerves can invade seemingly the most reliable of cricketers. Gul would go on to have a nightmare. ...... Tendulkar showed signs of nerves as he compiled one of the scratchiest 80s of his career. He began fluently but deteriorated once Afridi had introduced his spinners.

BBC Sport: World Cup cricket: Joy in India and Sri Lankan despair: 28 years after Kapil Dev's side triumphed at Lord's ...... Mumbai erupted in frenzy, as loud, hysterical cheers and the explosions of crackers announced the return of the coveted World Cup to this cricket-addicted nation after a 28-year-long hiatus. ...... Ecstatic fans, wrapped in the Indian Tri-colour flag, have invaded the streets here. The drums are out. ..... The sky is lit-up; as if Diwali- the festival of lights - has arrived early. It's an unbelievable sight. ....... Traffic was mostly off road since morning. Local trains carried a fraction of the usual load of passengers as people either stayed back home or bought their way in to cinema halls, restaurants or pubs showing the match on giant screens. ...... the fall of Sehwag and Tendulkar in quick succession stunned all. ..... Honking cars and loud music set the city's mood as people hugged and congratulated each other. ..... Indian cricketing Gods have provided their worshippers the night they will cherish for long. ...... Mumbai is exploding with joy. This party will not end anytime soon!