Probably for the first time after 1979 both India and Pakistan would not be featuring in the 2nd stage in the mouthpiece quadrennial tournament of cricket. The debate will continue if this is a great loss for cricket or not, but as expected predictable reactions have started to pour in both the countries.
Heads and minds have started to roll already. From the BCCI president to the common men (those who are continuously fed by self groomed sports experts fuelled by TV channels) everybody is demanding some part of the players body as a justified punishment for the crime done by those 17 people to this great mad and crazy country. The system is talking suddenly of making a new team altogether (as if team could be cultivated and nurtured in the backyard of BCCI officials), the demigods have already turned into villains more notorious than “Gabbar”, everybody seems to be more angered about the endorsements done by cricketers and out of blue anything remotely related to cricket or cricketers is seeming to be sinful. All of a sudden, billion citizens are on the move and revolution or revolt is not something read only in books and papers. Everybody is out to cleanse the sins by killing – you know whom.
But, as I sit back and ponder with a heavy heart, trying to go through the postmortem of this expected debacle surprisingly I found a different answer. To my utter disbelief the rational justice is pointing fingers to all of us as accused in charges of abatement.
The system never made sure that, the product is good and capable of delivering on what is promised. They relied more on marketing gimmick and only succeeded in skimming. The brands had association more because of hype and less for the game. In any successful organization, even the novice would tell that the clue to achievement is not marketing or promotion but hard work and focused approach on delivering the promise. Once the supply is ensured and internal process in place with little or no variation, then the outcome is guaranteed. But, I doubt there is anyone in BCCI or in ex cricketers to bell this cat. Nobody is talking about the system as if these products could create history out of a blue.
Then comes the bigger part – the fans. We have maximum no of fans, uncountable followers and unfiltered judgements, hyper sensitive crowd and focus-less mad people. If our following is for the game then we need to ask ourselves a simple question – how much interest do we show in domestic cricket? If the answer is no then we can’t claim to be a fan. If we are a fan only for individual players then we have no moral ground whatsoever to put the nation on fire as we don’t bother about other players. If we give a look at the fans worldwide we would see how much love they have for the sport. A fan in Brazil or in South Africa is much more knowledgeable yet balanced in their approach. They follow the game from the streets to the podium. They are unaffected by the hype but affected only by the beauty and challenge of the game. Indian fans have never bothered to go through a self realization process and fear the introspection most.
It’s the money and hype which is responsible for this situation. 15 other nations are playing the same game, yet nowhere would one find such craziness. They understand the difference between – being a true follower and behaving like a schizophrenic individual. Collectively they (read BCCI and fans) are the biggest challenge for the game. But, who is going to tame this demon?
In those sports where money and sponsors are not present there is no fan following. There is no infrstructure in swimming, chess or badminton. There is enough talent but they could not be groomed. A true lover of game couldn’t have given a cold face to these. We do because we are nothing but maniacs who lives by occasional shock treatment.
Why blame only players when everybody from administrators to film stars to the poorest beggars are responsible for what has happened? Lets sit back and relax as we all know this is an eternal cycle because a polluted river could only produce bacteria necessary for the insects, it neither has the capacity nor the intention to breathe fresh oxygen into living animals with pure soul.
May the Indian team return safely and rest in peace. Amen !!
