Congratulations to team India

So finally India has become the number one test team in the world. On a personal level, I consider this newly acquired rank of our Cricket team to be a symbol of the growth & development of Bharat. A Bharat that is thousands of miles away from the hustle and bustle of the urban India. A Bharat which resides in the heart of every poor Indian. A Bharat which fights for its existence on a daily basis. A Bharat which wakes up every morning with the tension of managing its meal for the day. And a Bharat which continues to smile amidst all its adversities.

There was a time when the dominance of Mumbai on Indian cricket was so heavy that people would often jokingly say - 'it is easier to find a place in the Indian Cricket team than the Mumbai Ranji team'. There was also a time when Cricket in India, was a privilege of the selected few. It was a game meant only for the Maharajas, the Nawabs and those who belonged to the most affluent families of the country. Needless to say those were also the days, when India used to loose most of its matches.

The emergence of icons like Gavaskar, Kapil and Sachin made cricket a way of life in India. Roads would get deserted every time Gavaskar would be on the batting crease. Success in a competition would not delight us as much as the famous picture of Kapil Dev holding the World cup would. And failure in an examination would not hurt us as much as the sight of Sachin Tendulkar walking towards the pavilion would.

The individual brilliance of these greats inspired the likes of Sehwag, Dhoni, Harbhajan & Zaheer to defy all the odds and become the nucleus of the Indian Cricket team. Today the elusive Indian dressing room is full of players from small towns & humble backgrounds. The likes of Irfan/Yusuf pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Praveen kumar, Suresh Raina, R P Singh, Munaf Patel etc continue to impress with their performance every now and then.

Never before was the Indian Cricket team so diversified in terms of Geographic location & economic background of its players. Perhaps that explains our transformation from a minnow to one of the best Cricket playing nations of the world. However, we have not yet tapped our complete potential. I am waiting for the day when we have players from areas like North East, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh etc donning the Indian uniform. Perhaps that would be the pinnacle of the Indian Cricket.