Before the End of the World Cup Rant

Today we bid an emotional farewell to the World Cup, which in the past few weeks has possessed us, obsessed us, captivated us, entertained us, and more than anything, united us in to one big team. With hearts racing, spirits rising, emotions on the brink, the Indian team has given us an extreme internal workout. Close victories, excellent display of sportmanship, reaching milestones, disappointing performances, Sachin Tendulkar, surprising results, we’ve got much more than we had bargained for.

But today is the end of it all. The final match and luckily India’s playing. The result of a nerve wracking Semi-Final match with Pakistan. The whole country is geared up with the best of its enthusiasm to support the team in hopes of a victory. Painted faces and waving flags. Restaurants, bars, pubs, cinema halls, malls, shops, everybody is taking a slice of this mega event. The stakes are high, and the stakeholders are plenty.

What if, just what if, the Indian team fails us? Will we, in a moment of what we may think of as betrayal, forget about all the joy the team has given us? Does the team, to begin with, owe this World Cup to us? Or will we thank them for getting us so involved and unleashing this flurry of high fives and thumbs down?

For the players, it is their profession. They play to win. It is their job, yes it is. Sometimes they are successful and sometimes they are not. But they are not supposed to strive to be second best. They play for themselves, they play for us. For the rest of us, we make them survive in their profession. We help pay for their extravagances, we invest our time, our emotions in them. They have our conditional support. We cheer for them!

So our expectation of them is justified, isn’t it? The intense pressure of a billion people is fair, maybe. With the amount everybody has to gain from their victory, I do not think Indians are going overboard with their expectations. Cricket is our blood and sweat and tears. Whether we like it or not, other sports have a long way to catch up before they can expect such magnitudes of emotions from us, whoevers fault that is. And naturally, the World Cup is the ultimate glory.

With that, good luck to the Indian team and yes, we want to see you guys lift the Cup more than anything!

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