2007, a year of /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

If you are, by any chance wondering what that weird title means, you don't have to anymore. It is basically the line which runs across the screen of a heart rate monitor. Up-down, up-down, up-down.

Though this post might be highly irrelevant at this point, I somehow remembered 2007 today and a wonderful feeling crept over me. Though it was a disastrous year at the World Cup ( One day International), the first thing that came to my mind as memories of that year flashed before my eyes was the T20 world cup at South Africa.

India was thrashed and made into an ugly batter at the ODI world cup in April that year. Rahul Dravid's men had to sneak back home at the dead of the night because of the shocking first round exit at the world cup. The whole world had expected them to perform, had expected them to step up and the team was studded with diamonds as rich as the Kimberly itself. Sachin, Dravid, Ganguly, Yuvraj, M.S, Kumble. the world's best and most celebrated players failed to deliver and India was packed home at the first stage by Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Many things happened at once. India gave away its super eights spot to Bangladesh,  Australia lifted the biggie, World T20 World Cup was announced to be held in South Africa later that year.

After India came back home, all hopes were lost. Indian fans were so heartbroken that they did not follow the game with the same vigor or enthusiasm. The BCCI took some rather drastic measures. The players' right to act in advertisements was plucked from them and they were asked to train more vigorously. It was obvious that the BCCI were feeling the heat and they were dumping it all on the players' heads.

T20 came and all the biggies stood aside to give the youngsters a fair chance. This was well received by the Indian fanbase who also felt that the shortest format of the game needs hard hitters and young blood. An entirely new squad with M.S.Dhoni as the captain/wicket keeper was announced. There were hard hitters like Uthappa, Rohit Sharma and Yuvraj Singh who could topple the game in India's favor if given a chance.

The team travelled to South Africa with the least of expectations. There were no pooja's performed for them, there was no big send-off, there was no hype, there was nothing. They were leaving for the World Cup and there was calmness around them. The huge burden of pressure was taken off them. All they had to do now was stand up and perform, show the country that they were still the most lethal team in the world and that is exactly what they did.

The young team was a delight to watch. Right from the Group D match against Pakistan, there were two things that were predominant- Determination and unity. The group match against Pakistan ended in a tie and the umpires called for a bowl out. Three bowlers were chosen from either of the team to bowl to the stumps and the team with the maximum hits was to be the winner. Uthappa, Sehwag and Bhajji came out for India. The ball turned and spun beautifully. The boys were so eccentric that it was contagious. Soon I was jumping up and down my seat, praying for our victory. Uthappa's bow to the audience after taking out the middle stump was the highlight of the whole bowl out. The Indians clearly looked more comfortable and even superior to the Pakistanis in the bowl out arena.

After taking the bowl out and subsequently the match, the Indians went ahead to the super eights. They had to face the likes of South Africa, New Zealand and England to have any chances of going in to the semis.

The memory of the India-New Zealand encounter is rather hazy. All I remember is that India did not make it and lost by a small margin of 10 runs. The chances of India qualifying to the semis now depended on two wins in the two matches that we had and it was against the mighty South Africans and the unpredictable English.

We clashed against England first and the whole of India was overjoyed. The Sixer Singh was out in the crease and he was thrashing the England bowlers. Stuart Broad was the bowler and Ravi Shashtri was the commentator when the almost impossible thing happened.

6 off every ball. 2 of them were on the off side and 4 were on the leg side, if I am not mistaken. The mid wicket sixes made me feel as if I was eating huge chunks of vanilla ice cream at the same time. That chilling sensation deep down in the stomach was all that I felt after Yuvraj responded to a provocation by Flintoff right before the over.

"Its six, six, six and its balle, balle, balle." Ravi Shashtri was commenting like he was egging Yuvi on for more. It was a pleasure to watch Yuvraj bat and Ravi comment with such intensity and dedication.

The match was won and all that was needed was a victory against the chokers. The Proteas were in brilliant form and Greame Smith was leading a potential team. Indians batted first and put up a decent 153 on board. The blitzkrieg started then. R.P.Singh came out and bowled beautiful in-swingers which bamboozled the Proteas batting order. They collapsed and before long, the Indians were celebrating. It was euphoria in Durban as the whole of the Indian camp danced in jubilation-they had made it to the semi finals, they had proved themselves.

I was on my way to Chennai for my quarterly holidays when the Australia-India semi final was slated. I could not handle the pressure. I still remember watching the match in every station possible. I could not sleep the whole night and kept tossing and turning. There was an elderly looking man who was listening to the radio alerts of the match. I just could not hold myself and asked him for the score update. When I heard that Yuvraj had scored a wonderful 70 off 30, I breathed a sigh of relief. I knew then that we had a chance and a very good one. India had raced to a 188 after Yuvraj's innings. The Australian team fought valiantly but simply could not get past the Indian score.

We had beaten Australia, in Jo'Burg and we had beaten them smart. I reached my Gramps' place and was so exhilarated that I could barely wait for the finals. The Pakistanis had made it against the New Zealanders in the other semi finals and were looking strong.

The day of the finals came. I was clutching my granddad's hands and I was praying so loudly that he kept giving me weird looks. All through the game I kept hitting him and punching him for every wicket, every boundary, every six. Misbah reverse swept the ball to deep leg and Sreesanth took a shaky catch to give India it's first T20 world cup victory.

I was awe-struck, I was over joyed and above all, I felt happy that we had proved ourselves. The critics had to stop their non-stop criticism about the Indian players. We did what I call the "undoing act." After September 2007, people forgot the ODI world cup debacle, the fans never once questioned the cricketers' capability. The underdogs had performed and performed like legends.

-Aishwarya Kumar.