I was one among many of the Lankans who wanted to see them landing home with the Cup safely in their hands. Closely observing them for the last couple of months had created a strange bond between us. When my rational side said we were going to lose, my cricket-feverish heart only said this time we were going to bring it back. But, like those of many, my dreams got shattered and like India won, my mind won over the heart.
When the regular cricket fans took it to another one of those defeats which are not unnatural in the game of cricket, the newly christened fans who went World-Cup-crazy took it rather badly. The following morning saw the roads gone vacant and the shops closed in the Colombo suburbs. Had the previous night been ours, the colours and the looks of the roads would have been so much different, and as a nation, we would have had a different story to tell.
As we rediscovered in this World Cup, cricket has become an inseparable part of our lives that even an anti-climax in the grand finale could not stop the people from crowding the roads to give our heroes a good cheer. This again shows us that we are intelligent fans who know better than to pelt stones at their houses or burn effigies in the public condemning the defeat. Perhaps, the only comfort of coming back home empty-handed must have been the fact that, whether you win or lose, people will still salute you and treat you with dignity because, as a nation we believe that you are worthy of being respected.
The couch potatoes and the cricket-fashion- crazy youth who were gathered in front of TVs would have never believed that the time you had to spend out there in the middle was harder than it appears on the screen. And even if you keep chanting the litany of the better team taking the cup away, people will still find it hard to figure out how India was a better team than our team.
It is on this backdrop that you had to say your confessions, at least in a place you call ‘home’ where nobody judges you and everybody loves you even with the mistakes you did in the Saturday’s game. You will also be glad that, the people here at home believe that criticizing you is the job of sports columnists and critics and that they are not umpires to raise their fingers skyward.
Four more years seem like another aeon from where we stand right now. But there’ll be plenty of cricket to fill the gap, and plenty of victories to make the wait worth it. When we gets closer , I will still hero-worship you, as a twenty-seven-year-old who ceased to grow anymore when she was twenty-three.
When the regular cricket fans took it to another one of those defeats which are not unnatural in the game of cricket, the newly christened fans who went World-Cup-crazy took it rather badly. The following morning saw the roads gone vacant and the shops closed in the Colombo suburbs. Had the previous night been ours, the colours and the looks of the roads would have been so much different, and as a nation, we would have had a different story to tell.
As we rediscovered in this World Cup, cricket has become an inseparable part of our lives that even an anti-climax in the grand finale could not stop the people from crowding the roads to give our heroes a good cheer. This again shows us that we are intelligent fans who know better than to pelt stones at their houses or burn effigies in the public condemning the defeat. Perhaps, the only comfort of coming back home empty-handed must have been the fact that, whether you win or lose, people will still salute you and treat you with dignity because, as a nation we believe that you are worthy of being respected.
The couch potatoes and the cricket-fashion- crazy youth who were gathered in front of TVs would have never believed that the time you had to spend out there in the middle was harder than it appears on the screen. And even if you keep chanting the litany of the better team taking the cup away, people will still find it hard to figure out how India was a better team than our team.
Four more years seem like another aeon from where we stand right now. But there’ll be plenty of cricket to fill the gap, and plenty of victories to make the wait worth it. When we gets closer , I will still hero-worship you, as a twenty-seven-year-old who ceased to grow anymore when she was twenty-three.
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