One dark night sometime during my childhood, I had a dream, I had an aweful dream. Its effect was so intense that it still lingers in my mind. Today that lapidifying dream is turning into a reality. The world Champion of 1983 World Cup, the hyper-active Indian Cricket team would loose to countries like Kenya, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka (a very weak team during those days) was indeed a nightmare. Now it is a stolid reality and honestly ’Reality Bites’.
Gone are the days, when Srikanth use to hit the hook shots off Marshall for sixes, Gavaskar used to defend the virulent yorkers of Imran Khan ( I wonder why he was never called the Wall) or when Kapil Dev used to come as the 6th man and turn the game into India’s favour. We used to watch/hear each and every match played against countries likes Australia, England, West Indies, Pakistan and totally ignore the matches against the not-so-well performing countries (in those days) like Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Zimbabwe and Kenya. It used to save a lot of time for the working class. You can expect a nail-biting finish with these teams where India is mostly on the looser’s side.
Why? That’s the question I have tried to chew over.
Today, we have a team so unstable that it is impossible to expect the Indian Cricket team to perform its best. The middle order is never the same. Of course the non-performers should be replaced but the competition is so strong that there is always a revision of the team. There is no opportunity given to these middle order team players to prove their worth. Media plays the dirty game of spoiling the image of the non-performers and the management is forced to take action against the non-performers. The best they can do is replace. Some politicians , could be the Sports minister or whoever, would then take action against the management for devoiding the team of some key players. And the cycle continues.....
Even though we have the best batsman in the world, the master blaster Sachin Tendulkar, we have never even got close to winning the World Cup since his arrival. Though I respect him for the marvellous sixes against the macabre spinner Abdul Qadir on his debut (the unforgettable innings not recorded as it was a charity match) but I do not regard him as a ’’Hero’’. (I am happy my cousins are not MS members, else this would be my last review). The other team players do not get the same attention and probably this affects their performance. Just compare with life ... if your fandoo logics does not get recognized and your colleagues’ simple logics gets recognized by your Project Manager, how would you feel? I am sure there will be some inspired, some devastated. It’s like two men look out of bars, one sees the mud and the other the stars. Unfortunately, with our Indian team mostly it is the mud. Indirectly, the media is responsible for making the cricket player a star. Media redirect the good players to ads.
Advertisements lead to stardom. Stardom leads to money. And money leads to tensions. Believe me, from experience, I can tell you that excess money causes a lot of distractions - a lot. How can the Cricketers be spared then? They have to think about investing and then the taxations apart from the dates for shooting the Ads. Hey guys, please take out some time for Cricket as well.Girls flock around the stars but hey I won’t touch this topic as I would always regard them as inspiration - Cheers girls/ladies :-)
Betting has been associated with this game right from its days of popularity. How many of you blame Azhar - even though he was the best fielder in the team, the best captain India has had, the wristy player - so what if he used those wrists for grafting. What was the entire team doing? 1 player can not make India loose, can he ? How on earth did you people blindly believe the media? How? If there has been betting, I am sure there are others involved as well. I have certain situations under my suspicious nose - Gavaskar has played so many slow one-dayers, Chetan Sharma was hit for a six by Javed Miandad on the last ball when Pakistan needed a four, Ravi Shastri has wasted more than double the no. of balls compared with other players in so many one-dayers ( Remember how we use to pray to God to get him out so that Kapil could come in his place and start hitting).
No matter how they play, whether they win or loose, they always entertain. I would suggest MS to put the India Cricket Team in the Entertainment section. They are the best entertainers.
Finally, no matter how much we discuss about this game and the team - nothing can change its deterioration. My worst nightmare is yet to take place ..... India getting eliminated in the World Cup.