Day after breathtaking win, Team India made Diwali dinner plans but players told not to get carried away

REACHING THE team hotel well past midnight, the Indian team, unlike their fans around the world, didn’t have time to celebrate the nerve-jangling World T20 win over Pakan. Scheduled to catch an early morning flight to Sydney, where they play the Netherlands on Thursday, the cricketers, after playing the game of their lives, had to do the most mundane everyday thing – pack their bags and leave them in the hotel lob for the logical staff to ferry them to the airport.
After the warm reception to Rohit Sharma & Co. the hotel staff and the bus ride from the stadium with fans chasing them, chanting “Kohli, Kohli”, the team retired to the rooms. Their phones were clogged with missed calls and messages, answering all of them would have needed an entire day. A few Indian players thought of going out for a short stroll to get their adrenalin levels down but decided against it after a peep from their hotel window. Even that late at night, down below were the teeming masses in India blues and tricolours.
Long before that in the dressing room, there was a plan in place for Diwali and also an important team motto reemphasised. Once a consensus was reached on a grand team dinner for the entire tour party, including wives and children of a few players, at the Sydney Harbour, coach Rahul Dravid and the seniors conveyed to the team that they shouldn’t get carried away with the thrilling win in the opening game and stay in the present.

Since the time Dravid joined the Indian team, he has stressed that the team should focus on the process and not give undue importance to results — not even a win. After the game, there was a reminder from the team management that in a high-pressure tournament of ups and downs, the team needs to live in the moment and not look too far ahead.

“In a post-match meeting, players have been told to move on and keep in mind the team’s long-term goal. It was a good start and the team needs to build it up from here on. The tournament isn’t over yet, so try to be grounded, players have been told,” said a member of the support staff.
The two heroes of the day — Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya – were the last to reach their rooms. After their media commitments to the broadcaster, they had to sit for interviews with the BCCI website. It’s where they spoke about their focus on the task at hand.

Of special knocks, game-changing sixes & thrilling victory at the MCG! 👌 💪
: Men of the moment – @imVkohli & @hardikpandya7 – chat after #TeamIndia beat Pakan in the #T20WorldCup. 👏 👏 – @RajalArora
Full interview 🎥 🔽 #INDvPAKhttps://t.co/3QKftWa7dk pic.twitter.com/sK7TyLFcSI
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 24, 2022
Pointing to Hardik while talking about the crunch stage of the chase, Kohli said: “He really kept me focused at that point, because I was looking to hit a few big shots, which could have been risky because we had already lost four wickets that time.”
Hardik, in turn, spoke about the team’s mood before the game. He too hinted at being blind to dractions. “I sensed a lot of pressure in our room, I could sense it. It was a big game, but for me, I do not know, for some odd reason, I was very numb today when I came to the ground. This is where I wanted to be and I was just happy to be here.”
At the press conference after the game, skipper Rohit Sharma used the word “focus” several times. “It’s not going to be easy, and that is what we said; we just need to hold ourselves and we need to focus on what we need to do because we are here to do a job. Obviously there will be a lot of support on the ground for us, so just focus on what we need to do, and our full focus has to be what we need to get out of this game,” he said.

While the Indian team was trying its best to play down the win, Australia couldn’t hide its admiration for Kohli. National newspapers and morning shows couldn’t get over what they had seen the night before.

In Fox Cricket, seasoned Aussie cricket writer Robert Craddock had a Kohli tribute with a headline: “Greatest Show on Planet Delivers”. Calling Kohli’s knock “the greatest innings of his career in one of the one memorable games of this or any era”, Craddock wrote: “Kohli started in first gear … like your family car stuck in traffic … and then he took us back in time opening the garage door and wheeling out the Ferrari and roaring off to help snatch a dam-bursting 31 off the last 12 and 16 off the last over”.
Herald Sun got all emotional with a screaming headline: “Oh my Kohli, what a finish”. “It was a T20 World Cup contest that had the packed stands reverberating as India recorded an unforgettable, controversial win in Melbourne on the back of absolute brilliance from super Virat Kohli,” said the report.
While the world was calling it an “unforgettable” win, the stars of the evening were trying to forget the memorable evening.