Dhoni acknowledges role of Sourav Ganguly for WC Success !

Yet, more than once during this World Cup, Dhoni has demonstrated that he is conscious of the course taken by Indian cricket in the last three decades and where Saturday's victory now stands.

But cricket, Dhoni said, "was special" to Indians because of the change that the 1983 victory achieved for Indian cricket. "People started loving the sport and you then saw two individuals making their debut, Anil Kumble and Sachin Tendulkar." He then said that the successful careers of Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, which began in 1996, marked the next step. "This was the chain of players because of whom we are in this position right now. We earn a lot of money, we get a lot respect and what we are trying to do is to pass it onto the next generation."

Three of the players mentioned by Dhoni were at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday night; Tendulkar a part of Dhoni's team, Kumble in the audience and new commentator-columnist Ganguly, who stood at the boundary on the far side of dressing room from where he watched the Indian team go past on its lap of honour with Tendulkar sitting on Yusuf Pathan's shoulders. Ganguly, who led India to the final of the 2003 World Cup and who still responds to India's performance as if he were a part of the team, was beaming. "What a win," he said, "what a performance."

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