Victory

Day 182 / 366

Last night, the Indian Cricket Team led by Rohit Sharma made history by becoming the first team to win the T20 World Cup and remain unbeaten throughout the tournament.

After the heartbreaking defeat in the finals last year, I decided that I would not be watching cricket anymore. I was disappointed, with the players for not doing well, and with myself for developing hope time and time again only to see them lose the big matches.

I didn’t even watch any of the league matches of this World Cup, except the one with Pakistan. And I wouldn’t lie when we won the semi-finals, I started to get hopeful again. But I had been in this situation time and time again in the past 11 years. So part of me still thought that we would probably lose. But I still decided that I would watch the whole match, no matter what.

India truly snatched victory from the jaws of defeat last night. It was pure magic. I am forever going to remember that over by Bumrah, and that catch at the boundary by Sky. It took some time to sink in. Last night I was happy. And this morning, as I scrolled through Insta to see reels of our players getting emotional, set to some really senti music, I couldn’t help but shed a few tears myself as well.

I started watching cricket in 2007 with the first T20 World Cup. Funnily enough, Rohit Sharma is the only player left from that winning team. He had to wait 17 years to lift the trophy again! And while we will be sad to see him, Virat and Ravindra Jadeja retire, there could not have been a better farewell possible for them.

It’s days like these that inspire me to keep working towards my goals. So that one day I face the same feeling of accomplishment that they players must have felt last night.