Farewell to my Heroes...

With the end of India's chances in the World Cup, we may have witnessed the last time we have seen Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly and Anil Kumble together on the cricket field. Maybe they will all play another year or so of International One-Day cricket but if the Indian Cricket Board have any decency and plans to construct a team for the next World Cup, the four greats of Cricket will be dropped in the near future and Indian cricket will begin to move on. As my brother 'A' mentioned yesterday this will be the last time we see real cricketers who play with any cricketing technique, the game is so glamorized in India now that at the end of the day, we only have wannabe actors and models pretending to be cricketers. Mahendra singh Dhoni is not a cricketer.

I feel privileged to have seen and been a fan of these cricketers all my life, I will cherish the memories of them all my life and recall them with great passion. I will remember Sachin's Desert storm performance in Dubai, I will remember his follow-up inning in the finals. I will remember Sachin carrying the entire Indian team on his shoulders in the 2003 world cup to the finals after he came out and apologized to the fans after a bad start. I will remember Sachin's first century against Sri Lanka, I will remember Sachin destroying Shane Warne, Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram, Shoiab Akhtar, Mike Kasprowicz... Sachin's final over against South Africa in the Hero cup. Sachin's performance in the Titan cup where he lifted the trophy on diwali day as a captain. Sachin's 187. In India Sachin was God during the entire 90's. The entire country would hold their breath every time he lofted a ball in the air. "As long as Tendlya is there we will win" is a sentence i have uttered hundreds of time in the last decade. As soon as Tendlya was out, i have been pushed into bad moods and thrown things at my television.
Saurav-Dada has always played with a chip on his shoulder. I will remember his blinder of 184 against Sri-Lanka in England 1999 World Cup. I will remember his shirt twirling at the Oval, a show of defiance to the England captain. I will remember his innings in Bangladesh against Pakistan when we chased down 312, He sat down on the pitch refusing to leave due to bad light.
Rahul Dravid always antagonised me. I have to admit i haven't been a fan. hes too laid back. He doesn't show any emotion. He doesn't bat with any authority or aggression. He doesn't seem to be in a rush to win anything. I will remember his over-the-head six against Alan Donald which drove him nuts. I will remember his 146 when Sachin scored his 187, he was also with Saurav when he scored 184. Always the Bridesmaid never the Bride. Unfortunately, most of my memories about Dravid are about him scoring big and India loosing.
Anil Kumble, the guy who took all 10 wickets against Pakistan at Delhi, he partnered with Srinath in bangalore to win against Australia where we got to know both their mom's. The guy who always got a wicket with his flipper when India needed one. India's last spinner.
Bye guys, you will be missed, some more than others but missed nonetheless.