It’s had been barely 26 days that a heartbreak happened at the Narendra Modi Stadium at Ahmedabad in Gujarat. After producing stellar performances with both bat and ball in 10 matches winning all leading up to the Finals of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup hot favorites Team India , on 19th November 2023, on the day of the World Cup Final, it broke hearts of millions of Indian fans across the globe with an embarrassing one sided six wickets loss to now 6 times World Champion Australia.
This loss in the World Cup final by the hot favorites and the host nation India in-fact was a discouragement to all the fans who all the way had travelled or wished for the Indian team success. The 1.5 lakhs capacity crowd at the stadium was silenced by the professional performance of 11 Australian players on the field.
Such was an impact of the defeat on the players that the visuals of broken and shattered Team India, controlling their tears as they went up to collect their runner-up medals and then dispersing into the change room, the sight of Mohammad Siraj crying on the ground, Hon Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi consoling Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the dressing room is the sight that will be permanently be etched in the minds of the Indian fans.
Most of the players from that squad didn’t play the next immediate assignment-and rightly so given how long they were on the travel all across India during the grueling World Cup schedule, which began just 4 days later. Indian cricket though tried to bring some smiles on the faces of the fans with the Young Team India thrashing Australia 4-1 and then drawing levels 1-1 with the mighty South Africans in the T20I series in their own backyard.
Barely had the tears of World Cup final loss dried up- Sunil Gavaskar ‘not bothered’ about India’s ability to ‘move on’
Former Indian legend and commentator Little Master Sunil Gavaskar also talked about Indian cricket’s ability to move on from the loss in World Cup 2023 final and whether it has helped fans recover from the defeat.
The legendary Sunil Gavaskar shed light on the several distractions that exist. With focus shifting to a bilateral series at home, and then a full-fledged tour of South Africa, to go with the IPL 2024 retentions, followed by the auction on December 19, Indian cricket is back up and running, but the former India captain pointed out that he, along with many more were not too interested in the T20I series against Australia.
“Barely had the tears dried up after the unexpected loss in the final of the ICC World Cup, Indian cricket showed it had the ability to move on. The focus was shifted to the transfer window for the IPL next season. Yes, there was a five-match T20 series being played between India and Australia, but hey, after what was a memorable World Cup, who was bothered about the T20 series except the staunch Indian cricket lovers,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for The Mid-Day.
The retentions were a huge distraction. The Sunday after the World Cup final heartbreak, all 10 IPL franchises, during a 2-hour long show, revealed the list of players they had retained and let go. With names such as Ben Stokes released, and Hardik Pandya’s trade to Mumbai Indians making headlines.
IPL 2024, always lurking at the back of the mind of your average Indian cricket fan, had already come to the fore. The IPL is still at least three months away – the dates haven’t even been announced yet – with the next big event being the auction set to take place in Dubai on Tuesday.