June 2011 - Posts
After hearing so much about the BCCI's supposed arrogance about UDRS matters from Swann, Tremlett and countless other experts on UDRS, one read this great article about the English FA. But before that lets talk about how its a win win situation for the India team critics.
If India gets a few critical decisions in their favour, critics will say, 'they won because we didn't have UDRS'. If India loses because of a few umpiring errors (which most people are hoping), they say, they are the ones who didn't want the UDRS so tey deserve it. I have read some joker (of India origin) saying that because the BCCI doesn't play at the big cricket centers in India, they are being cocky against the 'ENGLISH' fans... Mate!! I stay in Mumbai and I want to watch a Test match too.. but not against England.. boring.....zzzz.... Net net Swann thinks Indians are running scared of him because he gets more LBWs tha Bhajji.. He is a joker so leave him to be.
Now the English FA went ahead and made some grand announcement about how a unified football team would play the London Olympics. And look at the responses they got from the other Celtics. Also remember the English FA talked about getting an unconditional ok from FIFA, the same body they have been ranting against when they lost out on the hosting right of the football WC.
So the FA is not arrogant. BCCI is!! ANd thank you the English press. If and when my kid asks me about what a two faced monster means, I just have to show them this post.
19th June 2011 was a day of celebrations, literally. For most of the world it was Father’s Day, for those lucky farmers in UP, it was Kisan Adhikar Divas (Farmers’ Rights Day) as it also happened to be the birth day of one Rahul Gandhi. The problem that one has for most of these days is that they end up being just that. One day to show one’s love and respect to the parents, farmers etc etc etc. For the remaining 364 days it’s business as usual.
With cricket producing so many characters, one believes that the cricketing world should too have these days on the birth days of their favourite cricketers. A few do spring to one’s mind
- S Sreesanth - World Mental Health Day
- Ricky Ponting – International Day of Tolerance
- Munaf Patel - Safe driving Day (Speed thrills but kills so reduce your speed mate)
- Darrell Hair – Celebrate Baldness Day (Sometimes Hair loss is good for every one concerned)
- Simon Katich – Senior Citizens’ Day
- Shane Warne - International Women’s Day
- Greg Chappell – International Youth Day
- Ian Chappell - Brother's Day
- Mohammed Amir - International Anti-Corruption Day
- Mohd Asif - International Day Against Drug Abuse
- Shahid Afridi - International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression
- Lalit Modi - International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (at least of Cricketers)
- Steve Bucknor - International Day of Disabled Persons
- Ramesh Powar - World Food Day
There obviously can be many more. Most of these days are actually celebrated, a few have been invented by oneself. But none can be more apt than Harbhajan Singh’s Birthday. It shall be called Mother’s Sister’s Day.
A team that lorded over all others a few decades back finds itself staring into complete and utter darkness. The oft mentioned cliché by optimists referring to ‘a ray at the end of the tunnel’ seems to have ceased to exist as well. And how has the team reached such pathetic levels from its heady days is a question that everyone has an answer for but the more pertinent question of how can it be revived is answered by unconvincing, management consulting solutions.
Many legends of the game watch in helplessness as their team keeps on losing to opponents who used to tremble at the mere mention of a potential showdown. The discussion about the game is rooted mainly to how great the team was in the past, the team’s many achievements, individuals who achieved cult status and so on. Some ex-players still tend to live in those days writing off opponents even today. It is almost like the History channel show every time the sport is mentioned; a dewy eyed recollection of days gone by, heartwarming but useless.
The biggest culprit has been the Board which is in a state of complete disarray. The selection is haphazard, the public bickering between various board members have become legendary and the absence of any planning for continuing excellence has been conspicuous by its absence. Selection committees have come and gone but
There have been various egos involved with administrators winning the arguments against ‘Big name’ players by conveniently dropping them; in effect playing second string teams. The players on their side are seen to be selfish, egoistic and money minded. Its not as if the team has stopped producing some brilliant individuals but the lack of cohesive team work has hampered consistent performances. Coaches came and went, some stayed a few years some for a few days but the parting was always acrimonious.
The world has moved on and the sport itself has changed a lot. It’s not only about skills any more. Physical fitness, strategies and tactics have come to the forefront. The level of the sport even in the erstwhile minnows has gone up significantly and once in a while even the minnows have come out winners against the team. Such loss is not a surprise any more. It doesn’t even hurt the players. And that’s what hurts the most to their loyal fans.
A lot has changed since their glory days. Other games have gained prominence and they pay much better. A lot of youngsters are no more attracted to the game and hence talent which was available in abundance in the past has come down to a trickle. Most ex-players moan about the supremacy accorded to other sports and the money that accompanies them.
The team has done well once in a while and the entire world starts talking of renaissance but all such performances have been flashes in the pan. Every time the team does well (mostly due to some stellar individual performances) the loyal fans start rejoicing only to see their hopes coming crashing down in a few months by a completely pathetic show. It’s baffling to see the number of times the team has imploded on the verge of a victory or from a position of strength. From its ‘killer instinct’ days the team has moved on to the current ‘suicide instincts’ state effortlessly.
The team on its day can always cause upsets in major events but it is never the odds on favourite or even one of the favourites to win a major tournament. The tag of a ‘spoilsport’ hardly makes the fans feel proud; the same fans who had grown up winning everything on display. There were times when even 'Junior' teams got the better of them. People didn't even find the need to send full strength squads to play them in unimportant matches. That was their final humiliation.
Most empires in this history of the world have been transitory in nature and have been unable to sustain themselves due to a plethora of reasons. Movies have been made about them; this game hasn’t been an exception too.
One hopes that India regains its glory days in Hockey but one is skeptical, almost as skeptical as a Windies cricket fan.
Cricket- The Republic of India
- ICC - The government
of India
(currently The UPA)
o
See no evil, hear
no evil, and don't utter a single word.
- BCCI - (at
present) The Congress Party
-
Success is theirs',
failure is ICC's ineptness
-
May have
infighting and show it openly to the world too but in the end it's all in the
family.
-
ResponSibbal to
no one
- IPL - Wealth of
the nation
-
Concentrated in
the hands of a few rich, powerful and well connected people.
- PCB - (at
present) The Opposition
-
No players in the
IPL so don't get their share of the IPL moolah
-
Wants to head the
ICC again but the BCCI scrapped the rotation system in the previous Lok Sabha
elections
-
Will take every
opportunity to heckle the ICC
-
Allegiance to
money and ideology; most ideologies stem out from the source of money
- Spectators - Indian
Citizens
-
No say in the
running of the administration
-
Doesn't matter
who is in power, their lives remain unchanged
This is not an exhaustive
list of the parallels between the state of Cricket as a sport and the Republic of India. It is also not a political
statement in the sense that the ICC in the next elections can be the NDA and
the BCCI can be the RSS. The bottom line is that Cricket and India are both
run like personal fiefdoms and the common man/ cricket lovers are short charged
in the process.
The anger of a small minority
from the civil society is being expressed in the country through the support to
peaceful protests against corruption but such a possibility to rid cricket of its many challenges may be a bit
ahead of its time.
This is also not a call to
support any particular cause. This is a sports blog and will remain so. But the
raving and ranting on TV news channels that one had to endure because of the boring
ODI series made one think.
Article contributed by fakepradeepmagazine
Not Cricket's final conclusion though,
is that watching BP XI playing Windies is a better alternative.