Celebrities debate on India's Twenty 20 World Cup Victory

A conference was held in Mumbai’s J.W. Marriot, on the 26^th of September, the day when the Indian Cricket Team returned home, after the victorious 20-20 World Cup. People from the entertainment industry, from television as well as Bollywood joined together, to comment on the victory and to address the issues that took place during the day, post the return of the winning team.This special debate was aired on India's leading News Channels, Headlines Today and AajTak.

A few members from Indian Television’s Boxy Boys, were joined by artists like Sajid Khan, Abhijeet Sawant, Mandira Bedi and many more. The victorious Indian Captain from the 1983 World Cup win Kapil Dev made it to the list of juries along with his then team member Madan Lal to address the questions of the Celebrities.

The nation glued to the television sets all day to catch glimpses of the 30 kms walk of fame that the Indian team had, followed by the felicitation of the team. The celebrities debated all evening on what happened in the World Cup series, and were worried about what’s next? Anand Suryavanshi hit a perfect six, while questioning the jury, “What’s next for the Indian Cricket team? Yes, Dhoni did well, but then, who’s going to stay and who’s going to go? If we take the age and experience into consideration, then we will loose out on new players who have it in them to make it big…” Manav Gohil sided the team saying, “Its not just the luck that was the only reason behind the victory, but it was the talent that we have in the team now.” Sajid Khan mentioned about the team finally getting the X factor in them, “I can finally see the killer instinct in the team now, which they lacked during the earlier world cups.” Mandira Bedi bluntly brushed off the issue about the politicians stealing the thunder and putting the cricketers on the back seat, “There is no need to create such a big issue on something like this. The media is just unnecessarily creating a hype. The men had their fame on the bus to the stadium, what more do they want?”

There were discussions on this new format of the game. Majority assembled there were convinced that this 20-20 format is sure to stay from now on. But at the same time, the 50 overs match and Test matches would never lose its recognition. Kapil Dev and Madan Lal voiced the opinion that the One Day Series that starts off in few days against the Aussies will be a different ball game, and this will be an Acid-Test for Dhoni and this new victorious team, knowing the fact that, the Aussies will surely bounce back like wounded tigers..

The debate heated up when it was said that the coach was blamed in the earlier World Cup and this time the coaches weren’t given any recognition on the victory. Kapil Dev acknowledged this fact and praised the bowling coach of the present team, Venkatesh Prasad and the fielding coach Robin Singh for this accomplishment.The debate was followed by Abhijeet Sawant’s mini performances. The Indian Idol dedicated the song - Jo jeeta Wahi Sikander for Dhoni, Kandho se milte hain kandhe for the team, Yeh Desh hain veer jawano ka for Kapil Dev and Hume tumse pyaar Kitna for Sachin, Rahul and Saurav. Sajid joined Abhijeet and sang - Yeh kya hua, kaise hua, and dedicated this song for the Pakistan team.

The celebrities surely had a blast at the conference and as we can see, the cricket mania has struck people from all walks of life. Wishing the Indian team a hearty congratulations on their victory! Now that, the 20-20 World Cup is safely under the belt, the enthusiastic Indian Team should now concentrate on the next mission in line, that is to beat the Aussies again on Indian Soil, followed by a bavk-to-back series in Australia.. So only time will tell if this team has all the zeal and confidence to keep giving consistent performances even in future, and be Victorious everytime, they get on to the playing arena...

Author: Hiral Anju Bhatt, Srividya Rajesh