Some six months later, a new team is formed for what is the latest form of cricket - a slam-bang format known as Twenty20. The big 3 decide (???) to make themselves unavailable for the format, the team gets a huge dose of unknown, untested "fresh blood" cricketers; multi-dimensional, fit and athletic (most of them), who run well and field better, non-celebrities (most of them), a team eager to prove themselves, led by another of those younger breed of players uncluttered with his own importance. The result - India wins the Twenty20 World Cup, beating teams they looked nowhere near matching six months ago.
It is not about winning the Twenty20 cup. It is about the attitude, the fearlessness, the team work, the work ethic that Chappell spoke about, which seemed to be in abundance in the Twenty20 winning team.
Could this team have won the 50-50 World Cup, 2007? Maybe, maybe not! Even this team could have lost in any of those tightly contested matches against England, Australia, South Africa and Pakistan in the just-concluded Twenty20 cup. It is not about that! It is the nation showering accolades on the players who fit the vision Chappell had for Indian cricket, except that when Chappell was here, the same nation was busy putting obstacles everywhere. Our egos wouldn't let a white man win against our heroes, our Gangulys and our Tendulkars; when they "opted" out themselves, it was ok.
