Of Cricket, History and God.

2nd April 2011

"Tendulkar has carried the burden of nation for 21 years; It was time we carried him. Chak de India!" - Virat Kohli 

This is a day that will be written, taught, spoken, read, and fantasized about, for generations to come.  Books will be printed, recounting every minor detail, schools will make it part of their history text books, lectures will be given about the greatness of this day, and if you are reading this, you too someday, with tears in your eyes, will dramatically enforce every enthralling moment of this day on your grandchildren, or as @techrsr said, at least someone's grandchildren. 

It wasn't war, or calamity that brought this nation together today. It was religion. The glorious religion of Cricket. And how. Some of us watched from our televisions at home, some at pubs with complete strangers, and the blessedfew, from the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. We watched as Dhoni graciously agreed to a second toss even though he knew he'd won the first one. We watched, as Sreesanth made souls cringe with his bowling. We watched as Mahela Jeyawardane guided Sri Lanka to a position from where they were ready to challenge India. We watched the terrible advertisements that hogged valuable replay time. We watched Sehwag and Sachin walk back to the pavilion, and lost all hope. We watched Gautam Gambhir and Dhoni put runs on the board. We listened to Ravi Shastri ,Manjrekar and Ganguly spew out cliches. We watched Dhoni end it all with a sixer. That moment we knew, that we had just been a part of history. We had just witnessed India win the World Cup in 2011, after 28 years.

Like many others, I followed this event on Twitter mostly, and the experience has been unparalleled. You would know, if you'd been there. I could almost hear my timeline scream, every time the ball made it over the boundary. Caps Lock meant a lot of things- anger, enthusiasm, excitement, shock, outrage and more. Puns and jokes flew around like bullets in a war field. And we bonded. Bonded over the opposing teams' no-balls, the commentators' dress sense, the fours, sixes and wickets we took, the facepalms every time a mis-fielding happened, the victories and most of all, we bonded over one man-Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. We are all believers. Theists of the religion of cricket. And Him, our God. 

We don't just glorify him, we worship him. In sickness and in health, in loss or victory, in form or injury, Sachin Tendulkar is always the winner. Even when Cricket loses, Sachin Tendulkar still wins. I'm far too regular a person to even praise this man for who he is. Yet, I find myself basking in his glory, which he so humbly and gladly shares with the nation. If there was ever a reason to win this World Cup, it was Sachin Tendulkar. And they did exactly that. "For Sachin.", they all said. Yuvraj, Raina, Kohli. They did it for him. For a man who has every accolade that Cricket can present under his belt, except a World Cup victory. Until yesterday. And this is the cherry on the icing. A billion people unite in celebrating a well-deserved victory at a sport that is possibly the glue that holds this democracy together. That is a crowning achievement for this nation. But, the bigger accomplishment is that the world celebrates the presence of God in the Indian Cricket Team. The very same team that has lifted the World Cup in those magical hands.

Remember this day, for it has created history. History that is worthy of praise for eons to come. Remember that you were a part of this history.