Photo by Mudassir Ali on Unsplash

Hi Everyone,

On the finals of the ICC World  Cup, 2023, I dreamt of my favorite team who spelled magic on the minds of that time youngsters to move on from their failures and to create records and histories. I am elated to share the experience of the World Cup 2003 and the Pakistan Tour of 2004 in my own views. I hope all the people in the world know the greatness of the 2003 WC Teams however I wish to share my experience during the entire World Cup Tour 2003.

Before sharing the experience of World Cup 2003, I also want to share the position of the Indian Cricket Team during that period. It was a time of Black days for Indian cricket because Indian Cricket suffered a lot and sank to the depth of the ocean. Mohammed Azharuddin was a Captain of India before 2000 and Ajay Jadeja (Present mentor of the Afghanistan Cricket Team) was a Vice Captain. Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad, and Nanyan Mongia were the teammates. Though Md. Azharuddin was a successful Captain, he got caught for match-fixing in 1999 along with Ajay Jadeja and Nanyan Mongia. 

Indian Cricket Team drowned in the depths of the Ocean and entered into a world of distrust, and demotivation. Even ICC thought of banning the Indian Cricket Team, fortunately, nobody got caught except those three people, so, ICC warned the Indian Team and BCCI. It allowed us to play Cricket except for those 3 Cricketers. A new Team formed under Sachin and restarted their Cricket career. India failed to shine like a great team even under Sachin's Captaincy. So, Sachin chose Sourav to be a Captain to maintain his batting career voluntarily.

 The day when Sourav Ganguly became the Captain of India rekindled the Indian Cricket History. He became a dynamic, powerful, aggressive Captain. He chose a new team along with Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad, Rahul Dravid, and Sachin Tendulkar. However, India struggled in Wicket-keeping, Sourav insisted Rahul Dravid be a wicket-keeper along with Vice captainship. As Rahul didn't put down Sourav's trust, later he became the wicket-keeper officially and also dominated as Adam Gilchrist of Australia 

   World Cup 2003 has 14 teams overall and divided into 2 groups for "League" matches. The first 3 teams from 2 groups each will go against each other known as the "Super Six". Among those 6 teams, first 4 teams will forward to the Semi-finals, and the winning team from two matches in Semis will forward to the Finals. India fell in Group A along with Australia, England, Namibia, Netherlands, Pakistan and Zimbabwe. The very first match for India was with the Netherlands, and India won the match by 68 runs however India struggled a little. 

The second match with the Legendary Ricky Ponting (Australia) and his team lost by 9 wickets.  I can say it was the game changer didatch for Indian Cricket  WC 2003. The team batted first was India and took just 125 runs all out. It created a sensational issue in India, the people mocked the team, put slipper garlands around the photographs of each player, and fired their images on the streets. Sourav, as a persistent captain and a positive thinker, made the team stronger and came back as a ferocious team. Since their 3rd match against England till the semi-finals against Kenya, ahh! this team created a memorable impact all over the world. 

India created memorable victories against England, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Namibia, Zimbabwe, New Zealand, South Africa, and Kenya. All batsmen did their job to the greatest. Marvelous fielding by Yuvraj and Kaif throughout the series. Nehra's bowling against England made the world turn towards him because he took 6 wickets after his leg injury. Doctors insisted Nehra undergo the operation soon after the England match but Nehra insisted on completing the series and he made it as well. Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, and Javagal Srinath did their part greatly. Unfortunately, India met Australia in the finals and lost by 125 runs. It was a heartbreaking, unacceptable moment because India's excellent matches throughout the WC and proved to be an incomparable team against Australia.

I missed saying something that made me surprised and respect Sourav for being a great Captain. All Captains want the over-aged players to retire. but, Sourav is quite different. Javagal Srinath announced his retirement and retired from international Cricket before the WC. The funniest and most appreciable thing was Sourav included Srinath's name in 15 members and requested Srinath to reverse his retirement and retire after the WC. Though Srinath hesitated finally he accepted the offer because of the stubbornness of Sourav, the Indian Cricket Empire.

Meanwhile, when India faced Pakistan, both the team captains shook their hands and made the team members shake to announce that People from INDIA and PAKISTAN should see that match as a War of Cricket is neither as religious nor aligned. 

 Sourav was the one and only Captain who took the initiative for the tour of Pakistan while other countries denied it. Though Kapil Dev and MS Dhoni won the WC, Sourav is the best Captain and the team led by him is the best in the Indian Cricket History. Kapil Dev brought India's name as a new great team and Dhoni maintained the greatness. Only Sourav Ganguly and his men swept back from the valley of bad names, swam back from the depths of the Ocean, and created histories. They made India a dominant team in both Test and ODI. They equally with Australia dominated the cricket World from 2002 - 2008. Even Australia struggled later after the WC in 2003. This was my Dream Team which motivated me to get through all the setbacks in my life.

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