All in the game

What can be more shameful to team that was contended to win the cup, than being knocked out on first round of the game's most prestigious tournament.

Men is Blue (MIB).. Beaten Black and Blue.. Wow.. it rhymes too!!

Indian cricket team is out of World Cup 2007 after terrible performances against SriLanka and dark horse Bangladesh. In their first match India put up just 191 to which Bangladesh responded with grit and went on to cause the first major upset. India then produced a record breaking win over Bermuda building hopes of many. India had to beat Sri Lanka, one other favoured contenders for the World Cup, to move to the next round of the tournament. The Indian bowling began well with quick wickets, but soon lost steam and the Sri Lankan batsmen reached a total of 254 steadily. The Indian chase was lackluster. Except for the stand between Sehwag and Dravid, the Indian side failed to reach even 200 runs. With this defeat the Indian team was out of the tournament. The team that was hyped so much to repeat Kapil Dev-il's feat in 1983 is now back home after loosing two matches out of the three qualifying matches. In more than two decades this must be India's worst World Cup performance.

In India when it comes to Cricket everybody has an opinion. We are all good at numbers. We like to see analysis, head to heads and all new graphical statistics to make a projection that India is the favorite of the game. Numbers and analysis projected many things but now they are proved hypothetical. When it comes to actual game all that matters is sheer performance on that day. Experiences of many senior players couldn’t rescue the team from the disaster. All those ex/senior players jabber on news channels about strategies and game plans. Why can’t they form a committee to discuss and do something about the fateful state of Indian cricket?

Cricket is taken very seriously in India. No other sport is given so much importance. Players are treated as celebrities on par with top movie stars, paid big money to endorse major commercial brands. Some even get a chance to act in movies. Its a religion in India with the cricketers enjoying a demi-god status. There have been innovative marketing strategies with top-notch corporate houses making a beeline to be associated with the Indian cricket team, the players laughing all the way to the bank. I happen to read in websites that hundreds of angry cricket fans took to the streets burning effigies, defacing posters and held mock funeral processions of the national team after the defeat. Maybe that’s acceptable means to vent supporters anger. They even went on to attack houses of many cricketers. What wrong did the inmates of the houses do? How can one hold the relatives of cricketers responsible for teams bad performance? The best way to repay the team that has sinked a billion hopes is to stop giving them all this importance. Do not waste your time at office looking at desktop score boards. Stop watching them on TV with the hope that they work magic. Then they will have no major brands to endorse and maybe more time to devote for practice. We are in need of fresh genuine talents. Its time to bid farewell to players who once performed and have made their mark in the annals of the game. It’s their time to go and make room for freshmen. Australia has done it and when we compare ourselves to them on the game I think we need a change. There are many Tendulkars and Dhonis whos talents have gone unnoticed because they do not get the right kind of platform to showcase it. In Nov 2006 two 13 yr olds from Hyderabad created history when they made a world-record 721 runs in 40 overs to break the 664-run stand between Tendulkar and Kambli set in 1988. I personally know of a few people who have given up their primary education in order to prove a point in the game. BCCI must take steps to look for these people and train them.

I remember what my Grandmother told me when I was a school kid watching cricket. There was this ad where a top cricketer takes an unrealistic diving catch near the boundary. She said.. "Intha pasanga ithula matum thaan pudipanga" (These boys will take catches only in ads).

In a country of a billion people are we not able to choose a combination of just 14 players who can perform at times when it needs the most?? Only the BCCI selection committee will have an answer.