Over the years Indian cricket has seen many highs and many lows, from the glory of 1983 world cup, a triumph of 2001 Kolkata Test match to the lows of the 2007 group stage World Cup exit, Indian fans have had it all. Passion amongst the Indian fans is unmatchable by fans of any other country, and it is rightly said, Cricket is a Religion in India.
However, India’s lowest point according to the greatest Indian batsmen Sachin Tendulkar was the group stage exit in 2007. Sachin who was a part of the Indian team in that World Cup says that the period around 2006/07 was the lowest for the Indian team. India lost to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in the group stage to bow out of the tournament. Rahul Dravid led the Indian team in the 2007 World Cup in which India was touted to be one of the favourites to win the tournament.
Although, Sachin believes that that changes made in the team after the World Cup eventually reaped benefits for the team. The likes of Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman and Anil Kumble retired sometime after the 2007 World Cup. Only Sachin continued to play till the 2011 World Cup which India ended up winning at home.
Sachin said:
“I think 2006-07 we were possibly our lowest (phase). We didn’t qualify for the Super 8 stage of the 2007 World Cup. But we got back from there and started fresh thinking, we started moving in a new direction, “We had to make a lot of changes. And once we had planned what we had to achieve as a team, we were committed to it and the results followed.”
Sachin had to wait for 22 long years since making his international debut to lift the cricket World Cup. He added:
“We had to change a lot of things. Whether they were right or wrong we didn’t know. The change did not happen overnight. We had to wait for results. In fact it took me 22 years of my career to lift that beautiful World Cup trophy.”
