Underdogs no more

Today’s match; I honestly wanted our Indian brothers from the West to win this one. They have been beaten, smothered, use any superlatives. But today, they showed some character...though they managed to almost lose it. It sounds so familiar to an Indian team supporter who grew up in the ‘90s.

I remember India touring Australia in the late ‘90s, where we lost all the tests and won just two one-day games in a triangular series also featuring Pakistan. It was devastating as we had hope all along. The friendship series in South Africa, early ‘90s, we again won just two one day games out of a series of 7 games. The WC of 1992, we won two games, one was a rain affected one against minnows Zimbabwe and other the historic one against Pakistan.

We were underdogs. I felt like an underdog for good 80% of my life because of that. As a community we would have always wanted the underdog to win. Because, in a way it was us! Can this one time Roddick beat Federer? Can we have the agile Senegal go through to the final game of the soccer word cup? The list may go on for other sports enthusiasts…

It was in these times that a God emerged. A God because, he gave us hope; that we could win…be it the aamir sohail dismissal in ’92 or the clean bowled of Brian Lara in the hero cup finals, against the then mighty windies…then we were underdogs.

Today, we are number 1 in ODIs and number 2 in tests. We have got into the habit of winning from anywhere. We don’t give up. We are underdogs no more.

Today, I supported India again. It was India of my childhood, where a glimmer of hope like a Robin Singh could help win a historic match. Sammy, I supported you. I supported the West Indies.