Lalchand Rajput says that nobody expected India to win T20 World Cup 2007

20:50
24 September 2007. 24/09/2007. Monday. India vs Pakistan. World Twenty20 Finals. Johannesburg. The day when the post-1983 finally got to see what they had wished for in 1987, 1996 and 2003; the only time India came close to winning a global title. Those dreams had of-course ended sometimes in riots with people burning down the stadium or the effigies of players, on other occasions it had simply ended in tears, anger, frustration.

Its been 12 years now to that historic day in Jo’burg but you would have to go back to six months before the event, to understand the magnanimity of what India achieved that day.

Leading into the year 2007, the Indians had only one thing in mind. Will the 50-over World Cup finally be India’s? Will the Men in Blue avenge the heartbreak of the 2003 final? Will we finally have another captain standing beside Kapil Dev with a World Cup?

Of-course no one in their right mind had thought what eventually happened. And, when it did, it was like everything had come to a standstill. For me as the 14-year-old who was looking to spend the rest of the holidays watching the Men in Blue’s campaign, it was a jolt out of the blue. Within seven days, Team India was knocked out of the World Cup following defeats to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

It was like watching a nightmare with open eyes. It was disheartening to see the likes of Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, and others watch their dreams get shattered in front of their own eyes. As usual, the reactions from the fans and media were extreme. Players’ effigies were burnt, their homes were attacked, media called for their heads. It was a chaos of the highest order.

Following a tumultuous World Cup campaign, India went on to beat England in a Test series in England (1-0) after 21 years. But Indian cricket still needed a bit of magic to get the fans back to the game. And, the magic happened in September of that year.

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