VINDICATED!

Poori team ne raavansena ko dhool chatayi, aur Dhoni ne unko dho dala!

And, I am vindicated!

I've no intention of going into the game details - every site has them now. But, there's something to be said about the power of thoughts. Most of us were confident that India wasn't going to let Srilanka slip through their fingers - not after the way they kept their cool with Australia and Pakistan. The only question was how they would do it - after losing prize fighters like Tendulkar and Sehwag. At that point, the people who believed in the team in spite of the rude shocks must have outnumbered those who had less confidence. Prayers went up for Gambhir and Dhoni. And, when a billion zealots put their hearts on the line for the team to win, they just can't lose. This tsunami of support wiped out everything that stood in its way. Harbhajan couldn't have been more apt when he acknowledged this force. This is the kind of support that is needed every time they go out on the field.

While the support was a deciding factor, at least for me, it was obviously not the only factor. Siddhu was bang on the mark when he quoted Zig Ziglar - Men of genius are admired, men of wealth are envied, men of power are feared, but only men of character are trusted. Yesterday, every single Indian player was worthy of that trust. For a crowd of onlookers, its so very easy to say that a player should have done this or that; and the very same crowd that cheers these players when they win, destroys their careers without a single thought, when they lose but once. Ignoring that kind of a risk takes a lot of grit and resilience. Mastery of the fear that strikes a heart cold was on ample display by the Indian team yesterday. They paid no heed to the fact that they had lost two prize wickets, or that their die-hard fans have short memories, or that one mistake could overshadow every hard-won achievement. They stayed strong when everything went wrong, and they earned the trust - penny by costly penny.

Luck always plays a hand in a game, when there is the slightest of laxity. To take away the luck factor from a game means playing with extreme levels of concentration and determination. Our team did exactly that - they left nothing to chance. In a game of this magnitude, they have to play at 200% - that's just what they did. And for this, they deserve a salute from the entire nation!

Two formidable forces came together yesterday - the confidence of the Indian "janata" who didn't lose faith even when nothing went right, and the focused determination of the Indian team to give lady luck not a single chance to direct their game. The synergy of such powerful forces is indeed a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

If people say that Dhoni is arrogant, I'd say he earned that right. Personally, I've yet to see a display of arrogance from him. The confidence that comes from hard-won success is not arrogance.

And lastly, what a fitting tribute the team gave to the God of Indian Cricket - Sachin Tendulkar! The crowd had all but forgotten him after his exit from the match. But not so, the Indian team. To see them hoist the Master Blaster on their shoulders and offer the victory to him was a touching moment. Virat couldn't have said it better: Sachin bore the weight of the nation for 21 years. Its now time for us to bear his weight.

The stalwarts who won the World Cup had tears in their eyes yesterday. But, that's what we Indians are all about. We are that rare mix of vulnerability and strength, of zeal and toil, and of emotion and practicality - that sets us apart from the rest of the world. If we can just believe that we are worthy, we can win - even if the odds are stacked against us. If we can just keep our self-confidence intact - we become unstoppable.

And if we can just make it a habit to be unstoppable - then, even the sky will shy away from being our limit!