Cricket World Cup: Finest moment for South Asian sports
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
Zaglul A Chowdhury
India, one of the pre-tournament favourites, have fittingly won the Cricket World Cup 2011 in a splendid fashion and in the process have turned a new leaf not only in the sporting history of India, but the entire South Asian region. This has been a great moment for the region, as never before the top two teams in such a competition have been from South Asia. As such, it is a rare honour for the region and we all are rejoicing the great accomplishment. Furthermore, a third South Asian country - Pakistan - reached the last four and played at the semi-finals and thereby added another feather in the regional glory since never before in the world cup cricket three South Asian nations reached the last four. Indeed, this is a monumental success for the South Asian teams as they sidelined such mighty cricketing prowess like Australia, England, South Africa and the West Indies. Only the New Zealand could reach the semi-final stage, where they were effectively beaten by the Sri Lanka. The "Kiwis" once again failed to overcome the jinx as they earlier reached the last four several times in the cricket world cup, but could never make it beyond. In any case, India deserves great accolades for its all-round performance in the tournament that was reflected in the quality batting, bowling and fielding - the later was particularly worth watching in the final against the Lankans. The final in the famous Wankhede stadium in the cricket-frenzy Mumbai was the culmination of the more than month-long sporting extravaganza that began with the opening match in Dhaka between India and home team Bangladesh. India went through the grueling exercise in the line- up to the ultimate encounter by defeating the teams like Australia and Pakistan. We take our hats off to Mahendra Singh Dhoni's side for their excellent performance and winning the cup for the second time, having won it in London 28 years ago. They waited for long and the patience and painstaking efforts in preparations to the just concluded tournament are certainly more than commendable for the Indians, who would now be looking forward to defending the title four years from now in Australia-New Zealand. Other South Asian nations too will definitely be keen to further improve their skills and ability in the next Cricket World Cup in 2015 so that they too can bring laurels for their respective nations in this particular discipline of sports. The South Asians countries have not excelled well in other areas of sports like football, although once India and Pakistan were the main world powers in field hockey. That era is over now in the face of ever increasing dominance of the Europeans and the South Americans in hockey. India and Pakistan are, nonetheless, still forces to reckon with in hockey. But South Asians teams fare very poorly in world football and cricket is the game in which the regional teams are progressing admirably. It is important that this game is further improved upon since here the regional nations have carved out a niche for themselves in the global competition. The Cricket World Cup 2011 was a South Asian affair in many ways since it was hosted by three regional countries-- India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. It goes to the credit of all the three countries that the more than month-long competition was completed without a hitch. That Bangladesh could not fare well in the tournament is another story and we hope the frustration stemming from the debacle is put behind and the cricket authorities in Bangladesh strive hard to improve the standard of the game since it is the only South Asian nation apart from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka that is still looking for a world cup trophy. It may be height of folly to expect that Bangladesh would reach the zenith in a short time, but such hopes are not unrealistic since Sri Lanka did not take too long a time to win the trophy in 1996. All that Bangladesh needs is the proper planning and endeavour to improve the game with all seriousness. If fellow regional nations can do it, why can't Bangladesh win the trophy? The South Asian nations are coming closer in promoting cooperation in many areas even though this region is largely known for mutual disputes, acrimony and other problems. But the bottom line is that the region of 1.5 billion people is making a mark in various fields including sports. Cricket is unquestionably a passion in South Asia and we all are too delighted that this time the trophy is once again in our region and the performance of the South Asian teams in the tournament has been excellent. Hopefully, this quality will be maintained and the rare South Asian glory in the cricket arena must not go unnoticed. The writer can be reached at e-mail: zaglulbss@yahoo.com
India, one of the pre-tournament favourites, have fittingly won the Cricket World Cup 2011 in a splendid fashion and in the process have turned a new leaf not only in the sporting history of India, but the entire South Asian region. This has been a great moment for the region, as never before the top two teams in such a competition have been from South Asia. As such, it is a rare honour for the region and we all are rejoicing the great accomplishment. Furthermore, a third South Asian country - Pakistan - reached the last four and played at the semi-finals and thereby added another feather in the regional glory since never before in the world cup cricket three South Asian nations reached the last four. Indeed, this is a monumental success for the South Asian teams as they sidelined such mighty cricketing prowess like Australia, England, South Africa and the West Indies. Only the New Zealand could reach the semi-final stage, where they were effectively beaten by the Sri Lanka. The "Kiwis" once again failed to overcome the jinx as they earlier reached the last four several times in the cricket world cup, but could never make it beyond. In any case, India deserves great accolades for its all-round performance in the tournament that was reflected in the quality batting, bowling and fielding - the later was particularly worth watching in the final against the Lankans. The final in the famous Wankhede stadium in the cricket-frenzy Mumbai was the culmination of the more than month-long sporting extravaganza that began with the opening match in Dhaka between India and home team Bangladesh. India went through the grueling exercise in the line- up to the ultimate encounter by defeating the teams like Australia and Pakistan. We take our hats off to Mahendra Singh Dhoni's side for their excellent performance and winning the cup for the second time, having won it in London 28 years ago. They waited for long and the patience and painstaking efforts in preparations to the just concluded tournament are certainly more than commendable for the Indians, who would now be looking forward to defending the title four years from now in Australia-New Zealand. Other South Asian nations too will definitely be keen to further improve their skills and ability in the next Cricket World Cup in 2015 so that they too can bring laurels for their respective nations in this particular discipline of sports. The South Asians countries have not excelled well in other areas of sports like football, although once India and Pakistan were the main world powers in field hockey. That era is over now in the face of ever increasing dominance of the Europeans and the South Americans in hockey. India and Pakistan are, nonetheless, still forces to reckon with in hockey. But South Asians teams fare very poorly in world football and cricket is the game in which the regional teams are progressing admirably. It is important that this game is further improved upon since here the regional nations have carved out a niche for themselves in the global competition. The Cricket World Cup 2011 was a South Asian affair in many ways since it was hosted by three regional countries-- India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. It goes to the credit of all the three countries that the more than month-long competition was completed without a hitch. That Bangladesh could not fare well in the tournament is another story and we hope the frustration stemming from the debacle is put behind and the cricket authorities in Bangladesh strive hard to improve the standard of the game since it is the only South Asian nation apart from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka that is still looking for a world cup trophy. It may be height of folly to expect that Bangladesh would reach the zenith in a short time, but such hopes are not unrealistic since Sri Lanka did not take too long a time to win the trophy in 1996. All that Bangladesh needs is the proper planning and endeavour to improve the game with all seriousness. If fellow regional nations can do it, why can't Bangladesh win the trophy? The South Asian nations are coming closer in promoting cooperation in many areas even though this region is largely known for mutual disputes, acrimony and other problems. But the bottom line is that the region of 1.5 billion people is making a mark in various fields including sports. Cricket is unquestionably a passion in South Asia and we all are too delighted that this time the trophy is once again in our region and the performance of the South Asian teams in the tournament has been excellent. Hopefully, this quality will be maintained and the rare South Asian glory in the cricket arena must not go unnoticed. The writer can be reached at e-mail: zaglulbss@yahoo.com