Indian Cricket - Golden moments

In any sport, played by any nation, there are some golden moments that get etched into memory forever. Cricket, being my favorite sport, in India has seen a enormous change through the past 80-90 years that India has been playing the sport. Today, I am trying to dwell upon the few most amazing moments Indian cricket has seen. Obviously, as always, these are in my opinion the proudest moments, across all formats. You are always free to disagree. We agree to disagree. When I say 'proud moments', I mean the impact they had on the followers, on the team, on the perspective of people who look at our game / team. When these moments happen, you feel WOW. You feel respect towards the people / individuals. Your love towards the game increases.

1) Test debut: (1932 - Lords')
India cricket team officially played its first game (a test match at Lords) in 1932, led by Col. C.K.Nayudu in the pre-independence era. Although, we lost the game (and many more in the next few decades), from the cricketing perspective, it was a proud moment, to play the first-ever test match (for India) at the Lords'.

2) First Test match win: (1952 - Chennai)
Eventually, after losing almost every match for 2 decades, India registered their first-ever win, against England on home soil. Defeating the erstwhile rulers at their own game (much-like Lagaan-film) surely has to be one of the proudest moments.

3) First significant test win: (1971 - West Indies)
In 1971, Indian cricket team had registered two of its' famous series wins; one against the giants (West Indies) & one against England, both in their own den. Athough, this wasn't their first overseas win (that happened in 1967 against New Zealand), this was surely a morae-booster series win for the years to come.

4) ICC Prudential World Cup: (1983 - Lords')
West Indies were giants of the game in the 1970s & most of 1980s. Even when India defeated West Indies in one of the league matches of the World Cup, there was absolute no reason why anyone would have predicted a World Cup win for India, given the team composition & opposition. Add to that a paltry target of 183 in 60 overs for one of the strongest batting line-up (West Indies) in the tournament, it was a combination of miracle, never-say-die attitude & medium-pace swing bowling and one of the greatest running-catch in World Cups that awarded a very deserving victory to the Indian Team. In my opinion, for me this is the proudest ever moment in Indian cricket.

5) Benson & Hedges World Championship: (1985 - Melbourne)
Not exactly a proud moment by sheer logic, but India played against Pakistan twice (league match & Final), won both times & Ravi Shastri got Man of the Series award (then known as Champion of Champions). Seeing him drive the Audi around the ground with all players perched in & on the car was certainly a proud moment.

6) Year of wins: (1998)
India had already started winning matches, both in Test & ODI format during the 1990s. However, in 1998 India won almost every ODI series (except the first ICC Champions Trophy (knock-out tournament) where India lost in the Semis. Sachin Tendulkar scored a record 1894 runs in ODIs which is yet to be broken. It won't really be incorrect to say, he led us to victories throughout the year with his batting.

7) Turnaround in Tests: (2001 - Kolkata)
How-much-ever I admire Sachin Tendulkar and his performances / achievements in Indian Cricket, this particular instance does not feature Sachin (unless you want to attach some importance to his couple of wickets in the 2nd innings on the last day of the test). As far as test format is concerned, this particular game is by far the most proudest win in all of the 80-85 years of Indian cricket. You certainly feel proud when you are enforced a follow-on on your home-soil, but still manage to take the lead & manage to win a test match on the last day when you have almost lost the game for the first 4 days. Absolutely unbelievable performance by Laxman - Dravid. I really started following test format after this match. Nothing gets as interesting.

After this test match, Indian team has reached many a milestone, No. 1 rankings in both formats (Tests & ODIs). We started winning regularly in all formats. We won the inaugural T20 World Cup (again feeling good to have beaten Pakistan in a World Cup final). The sheer feeling of being proud, for me, stopped being so significant. I have always cherished the old times, the old movies, the old literature, the old songs. Apparently, the same feeling has set in when it comes to cricket. Maybe because victories started coming to us regularly, maybe the novelty of raising the bar and fighting it out and winning hearts started fading. But, one thing is for sure (for me). The course of Indian Cricket's journey has been set now and the team is in cruise mode. Eventually, we will reach the top in all formats, will maintain the top-position in all formats (or maybe not). Eventually, we will be known as the giants of the game (much like West Indies in 1970s & Australian team later). But the 'proud moments' will continue to be cherished as long as the game is followed.

Thanks for reading. Disagree? Be kind enough to let me know. Maybe I need a shift in the perspective.