Newspapers after the euphoria…

It is indeed slowly sinking in… even for a normal Indian cricket fan, if I may call myself one! I expected the hype and hoopla to carry forward occupying TV space through the week, and the media, so far, has not disappointed. And to be honest, I don’t mind. We’ve had enough of 2Gs, Rajas, Radias, Kalmadis Wikileaks, etc. For a country that was craving for some bit of positive news after all of the above, a bunch of 15 men and their support staff couldn’t have timed it better!

The day after India won the first ever World T20 in South Africa defeating Pakistan, I was so excited that I bought almost all English Newspapers home. Read it here.

And I wasn’t going to miss doing that after India went one ahead and brought home (or kept home) the ‘original World Cup’ after 28 years. After all, the next generation has already missed history and I can proudly tell them – “I was there!”

Here are the headlines and my thoughts (purely from a reader’s and a fake-journo’s perspective) of leading Mumbai dailies that came out the following morning:

THE WORLD AT OUR FEET

- The Sunday Times of India

Although I am not a big fan of the ToI’s reporting, their headlines have often impressed me. And this one’s no different. Compared to some of the others, this one’s more creative.

CHAMPIONS

- The Hindustan Times

The HT overlaid this headline on a half-page photograph of the jubilant Indian team after receiving the trophy. Although the headline in itself isn’t creative, the layout (I believe this is HT’s forte) makes it exciting and thus, to the point! HT, however, has done a brilliant job in getting columns out of Ian Chappell and Pradeep Magazine – something that they can claim exclusivity for!

WINDIA
World Champions, 2011

- The Indian Express

IE has carried a full page photograph with no report. However, this daily is the only newspaper to carry two mast heads and two front pages, with the second ‘front page’ carrying the headline – ‘The World in a Cup’. According to me, both headlines lack imagination, yet the full page photograph captures the moment well!

WE RULE

- DNA

Three-fourth of the page is occupied by a photograph of Sachin being carried on Yusuf Pathan’s shoulder. Somehow, both the heading and the photograph didn’t quite create the same kind of impact in me.

A CUP FOR THE MASTER

- The Free Press Journal

Layout was never FPJ’s strength and that remains a constant. Although the headline is in a font that’s hard to read, it still is ‘out-of-the-box’!

Sare Jahan Se Acha

- The Asian Age

The headline and layout lacks the kind of punch that would be desired of the morning after a World Cup win. The Asian Age carries the same photograph of Sachin on his team-mate’s shoulder.

THANK YOU!
- The Mumbai Mirror

Although Mumbai Mirror wouldn’t (and shouldn’t) fall under the category of a morning newspaper, the broadloid needs a mention for what it brought out post the victory. Kunal Pradhan’s article is brilliant. And the headline ‘Thank you!’ with the victorious Indian team’s photograph, according to me, was the best coverage of the lot!

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Having said all that, my thoughts with the journalists who actually sat down post the victory after watching the game - some of them in the stadium, some of them at their office desks- having to type away when the world outside was making merry in the streets. For them, it was a race to finish an error-free copy before the dreaded deadline. Their celebrations had to wait. Readers, like me, were waiting for them.