I must admit here that it does make my blood boil when certain things do not go the way they should especially for the Indian cricket team. One of my good friends has taken the effort to post a comment here saying it is not necessary to play the game to enjoy it. Well she is entitled to her opininon, but todays front page in the Times Of India (Mumbai edition) makes me feel I should have a say too about this game which I am so passionate about, which unfortunately millions in this country think they too are.
You may ask me why am I so hyper about this. There was a time (1996 onwards) when I had just one ambition in my little world; To play cricket for the country. The 96 world cup was the first world cup I ever watched with complete understanding of the game, and since then I have been an ardent worshipper of the game.
Why I did not become a full time cricketer, is a plot comprised of several complex instances, which are irrelevant, because the point I am trying make is very simple. A true fan of the game should have the maturity to consider the players who represent us, as fellow humans. Sadly, our audience look upon our cricketers as entertainers. They do not look upon them as sportsmen. Cricketers are looked upon, am very sorry to use this analogy, like slaves in a colossium. Like Gladiators, if you win you get all the glory, and defeat = death.
Well, there is absolutely nothing wrong in us sitting under the roof, with the AC on, cool drinks, lays and lays and lays (no one can eat just one) and saying "are yaar...yeh sehwag ko tho team mein lena hi nahi chahiye". Audience have every right to enjoy, simlarly they have the right to disappointment.
But things go wrong when the audience start to do things outside their AC rooms. Now that is where my point comes in. If you have played any level, by any I mean just ANY level, like for instance even if you have represented your building against the neighbouring building, or your Co Op society against the other, you would obviously understand the pressure of representing a mass.
Let me tell you this. In my school in Bangalore we used to have inter class matches. Class 5 V/s Class 6; Class 6 V/s Class 7 etc. These were unofficial. There were about 120 students in each of these classes and of which only 11 would get to play. This selection would be done on the basis of the internal class matches we used to have every saturday.
At that age I have experienced a thousandth of a fraction of the pressure faced by our players. When you are in class 6, a defeat against class 5 and that is the end of the world. For a whole month after that, School would become hell.
" Why did they take Raman Chander? he is goood for nothing. They should have taken XYZ..."
"just because by fluke he hit 22 (in one over) in selection, he was taken?? now see, in extras only he gave of 7 runs...".
When I walk to the assembly class 5 girls would walk near by, and purposely say..." our boys made mincemeat of the seniors"...
These things would keep ringing in my ears for eternity...
So what I mean is, agreed Sehwag did not play well, may be he needs a break, he needs to step down the order, but the team management and the selection commitee has given him another oppurtunity, and is'nt it the duty of us, the ardent fans of the game to give full encouragement to the team we love??
Personally how many of us are receptive to criticism?? When I called a fan unfit to watch cricket, immediately a flaring response shot up. How much can the players tolerate when the whole country calls them unfit to play cricket??
Imagine every TV channel blaring with news comprised of statements of hundreds saying " Send Sehwag back, I will pay for his ticket" " Dravid is unfit to be captain", " Sachin tendulkar is finished"....and not only that, images like women dressed in cricket gear, staging protests, burning of effigies, and moreover, destruction of houses !! Mahendra Singh Dhoni's house which was underconstruction (given to him by the Jharkhand Government) was destroyed by fans !! He is even threatened with dire consequences !! Fans or Hooligans ?? A fan is a short for fanatic I undersatnd. But be an ardent fan of your team, and do your best to encourage them.
We, being staunch supporters of Indian cricket have to encourage our boys to do well in this tournament. and hello...who the hell defined "doing well" as winning the world cup?. If you did well in your exams, does that imply you have topped?? or is it that if you have scored 80% marks you did not do well??
Looking at it ideally, imagine the difference it would have made for the morale of the team, when messages like " forget the defeat, you can and will surely bounce back, come on Team India..." kept flashing around...
Some people told me that this would mean to the players as " kuch bhi karo..public apna hi hai...support zaroor milegi...." they feel this kind of intense pressure is needed to wake up the team. Again lack of professionalism; No one knows their fate better than players if they do not perform.
I would say come on Team India....doesent matter what happens at the world cup. I am still with you.
A salute to those players, who have made us smile on several occasions. We inturn have succeded in making them cry.
You may ask me why am I so hyper about this. There was a time (1996 onwards) when I had just one ambition in my little world; To play cricket for the country. The 96 world cup was the first world cup I ever watched with complete understanding of the game, and since then I have been an ardent worshipper of the game.
Why I did not become a full time cricketer, is a plot comprised of several complex instances, which are irrelevant, because the point I am trying make is very simple. A true fan of the game should have the maturity to consider the players who represent us, as fellow humans. Sadly, our audience look upon our cricketers as entertainers. They do not look upon them as sportsmen. Cricketers are looked upon, am very sorry to use this analogy, like slaves in a colossium. Like Gladiators, if you win you get all the glory, and defeat = death.
Well, there is absolutely nothing wrong in us sitting under the roof, with the AC on, cool drinks, lays and lays and lays (no one can eat just one) and saying "are yaar...yeh sehwag ko tho team mein lena hi nahi chahiye". Audience have every right to enjoy, simlarly they have the right to disappointment.
But things go wrong when the audience start to do things outside their AC rooms. Now that is where my point comes in. If you have played any level, by any I mean just ANY level, like for instance even if you have represented your building against the neighbouring building, or your Co Op society against the other, you would obviously understand the pressure of representing a mass.
Let me tell you this. In my school in Bangalore we used to have inter class matches. Class 5 V/s Class 6; Class 6 V/s Class 7 etc. These were unofficial. There were about 120 students in each of these classes and of which only 11 would get to play. This selection would be done on the basis of the internal class matches we used to have every saturday.
At that age I have experienced a thousandth of a fraction of the pressure faced by our players. When you are in class 6, a defeat against class 5 and that is the end of the world. For a whole month after that, School would become hell.
" Why did they take Raman Chander? he is goood for nothing. They should have taken XYZ..."
"just because by fluke he hit 22 (in one over) in selection, he was taken?? now see, in extras only he gave of 7 runs...".
When I walk to the assembly class 5 girls would walk near by, and purposely say..." our boys made mincemeat of the seniors"...
These things would keep ringing in my ears for eternity...
So what I mean is, agreed Sehwag did not play well, may be he needs a break, he needs to step down the order, but the team management and the selection commitee has given him another oppurtunity, and is'nt it the duty of us, the ardent fans of the game to give full encouragement to the team we love??
Personally how many of us are receptive to criticism?? When I called a fan unfit to watch cricket, immediately a flaring response shot up. How much can the players tolerate when the whole country calls them unfit to play cricket??
Imagine every TV channel blaring with news comprised of statements of hundreds saying " Send Sehwag back, I will pay for his ticket" " Dravid is unfit to be captain", " Sachin tendulkar is finished"....and not only that, images like women dressed in cricket gear, staging protests, burning of effigies, and moreover, destruction of houses !! Mahendra Singh Dhoni's house which was underconstruction (given to him by the Jharkhand Government) was destroyed by fans !! He is even threatened with dire consequences !! Fans or Hooligans ?? A fan is a short for fanatic I undersatnd. But be an ardent fan of your team, and do your best to encourage them.
We, being staunch supporters of Indian cricket have to encourage our boys to do well in this tournament. and hello...who the hell defined "doing well" as winning the world cup?. If you did well in your exams, does that imply you have topped?? or is it that if you have scored 80% marks you did not do well??
Looking at it ideally, imagine the difference it would have made for the morale of the team, when messages like " forget the defeat, you can and will surely bounce back, come on Team India..." kept flashing around...
Some people told me that this would mean to the players as " kuch bhi karo..public apna hi hai...support zaroor milegi...." they feel this kind of intense pressure is needed to wake up the team. Again lack of professionalism; No one knows their fate better than players if they do not perform.
I would say come on Team India....doesent matter what happens at the world cup. I am still with you.
A salute to those players, who have made us smile on several occasions. We inturn have succeded in making them cry.
3 comments:
"Are you not entertained? Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here?"
- Maximus, Gladiator.
Nail on head there, my good friend.
For the majority of Indians, cricket is way more personal than what you would want it to be. We make the cricketers our gods, and we want our gods to never ever disappoint us. You can argue with logic and be professional and whatever else, but try arguing with headstrong emotions.
it is indeed a dissappiontment for many an Indians that our team has performed soo poorly...and an even more annoying fact, i must say, is the reactions of all those audiences. have u ever wondered how many families in India save alomst half of thier incomes...so that they can buy a television set of their own, sit in their house with their families, and watch their favourite cricket team walk the path of glory...and this i am talking about not 11 families....but almost 70% of India's population... for people like us..its a challenge to our passion....but for the rest, its a challenge to their survival...my question is....don't we have a right to fight for our survival..?
BY SAHITYA SAHAY
its indeed a very well written article presenting both the perspectives rationally. i agree hands down to what u have written.
but, i would contrary to ur expectations, like to defend the fans. although i totally do not approve of actions such as burning posters, and attacking players residence etc.
The feeling of being let down remains in my heart.However, that doesnt kill the feeling of support, as i am sure every cricket fan would be glued back with full support to cheer India in the next two games.
My point is, its not Indias loosing that hurts us fans, but its loosing without fighting which hurts. be it any team. we expect our "ooohhh aaaahhh indian team" to show the tiger spirit not only in advertisments but also on the field.
all we could see during the India Bangladesh Match was 'falling heads' after every wicket of ours and after every boundary of theirs.
after every success, team india basks in the glory 'we provide them' and now i dont feel they should complain when we accusse them of a very poor show.
why does a highly talented Mohammed Kaif not given a chance to be in the team, despite him performing consistently at the domestic level. how does mr. vengsarkar defend himself now, after making an immature statement that 'sehwag can come back in form any time' ... ya like we should keep waiting for that precious moment, with india not managing to make it to the super 8.
team india complains that the audience has become too critical of them and when we love or praise them for the great victories why dont they say...dont praise us so much...where is the modesty then?
all we expect from our Indian team is to fight like fighters.
"its not how hard you hit, its about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, thats how winning is done"
i respect every indian's sentiments and team india should live up to our sentiments. we respect their hard work on the field and will continue to cheer them despite the consequences.
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