Barbados: As the very Bajan saying goes, this one ain't have no backdoor – the Big Final, two undefeated teams. One thirsting for a Cup for 17 years. The other in a forever kind of labour pain to somehow give birth to an era. One faultless, dogged, gritty, ambitious, clinical and top of-the world. The other in a flurry over the moment, desperate for gain and fearful despite being fearsome.
Indeed, there will be no second chances here for either of the leaders. When India meet South Africa at the Kensington Oval on Saturday, it will be a Final for the ages. Rohit Sharma and Team India have reached this frontier by serenading difficult constructs, achieving targets, weathering adversities, kissing fortune, and sporting an infectious sense of searing self-belief.
This self-belief that India will win has infected the moment – the fans who have put hotel reservations on hold and sold mode, some who have hired charters in the absence of flights at whopping costs, others who are begging for tickets despite brimming USD pockets, and yet others, willing to literally swim across the Atlantic from Guyana to somehow reach the Kensington Oval to cheer for India.
And, of course, the sea around which is all set to rise in turbulent ovation with a tropical storm gathering up over Barbados, but that’s only post-match.
India’s job is to weather this tidal wave of expectation and play their best cricket thus far. They have the skill, the ability, and the intent. Sharma believes, he also has a smart cricket team. What they don't have is a window for loss this Saturday, up against a team that is formidable but not entirely edgy.
