The Madness called ‘Cricket’.

Why is Hockey our National sport, instead of a much popular Cricket? Or why is that despite having largest fan following across world, Football lags far behind in India. This was just a seed, which made me think of our over-zealous preference to Cricket. And a simple approach revealed a particular trend in Indian behavior in deciding our favorite: We tend to favor a sport in which our chances of winning are fairly high. Sadly, this has nothing to do with enjoyment the game offers or physical/mental strength it demands.

Consider this: In 40’s, Indian Hockey team was consistently on top; with Major Dhyanchand as an international Hockey sensation. During those times, Indian team used to defeat world powers like US and Germany by embarrassing margins. Comparatively, stature of Cricket was worse than of Hockey nowadays. It was only natural for Govt to recognize Hockey, a favorite among masses then, as national game; against Cricket, considered a sophisticated English game. Post Dhyanchand era, Indian Hockey continuously degraded; while Cricket rose frantically. And after ’83 World Cup win, Cricket became unofficially the national sport, and has continued to be so.

And what a gap!! The Cricket economy is many fold greater than of rest all sports-Combined. In fact, in Indian subcontinent, a cricketer cannot be categorized along with other sport-persons. Annual income of a cricketer is much greater than that other sport-person can make in his entire career. Cricketers are stressed to arrange for practice time amongst marketing campaigns of various sponsors; while others are considered lucky even if one sponsor signs them.

Consider stepping into shoes of other sport-persons: There will be no one to support you, cheer you, or even celebrate your winning. You will have to practice through substandard, insufficient resources. Anything unethical done to you will fall on deaf ears. Yet you will have to face satirical comments after losing: “I knew this would happen...” And even if you win, you will be forgotten within a short span!

If you suggest that Cricket as a game is superior enough to deserve this kind of enthusiasm, I would politely disagree. It is neither physically tiring nor mentally exhausting, yet it gives the adrenaline rush of winning/losing. This may be considered as a merit…but can’t anyone see how artistically it defies the very motive of sport? Ironically, Cricket is hailed as a ‘Gentleman’s game’, one where you do not have to sweat and toil for a favorable outcome. All this while pretending to be ‘playing’.

For a neutral spectator, the field is an absolute dud compared to other outdoor sports. Of the 13 players on ground at a time, 11 wait patiently for ball to come to them. Apart from this occasional activity of ‘grab the ball, throw it back to pitch’, there is nothing much in store for them. On a more satirical note, Cricket manages to combine drawbacks of indoor and outdoor game seamlessly- It is as inactive as an indoor game can get, and requires a large, grassy area to play upon !

I think Cricket is the only team game where a player can single-handedly turn the game over. The very idea of ‘team performance’ is shifted backstage. Be it a batsman or bowler, their feat is attributed to individual credit, with minimum support required from team-mates. Also the inconsistent performances- a very ‘in-form’ batsman can get bowled on a duck; or a bowler having extremely poor average rate can suddenly claim 5 wicket haul…all such sudden spikes in performances can be attributed to the pattern of game, rather than on individuals. Interestingly, this fact is hailed by fans as a merit- “Cricket is an unpredictable game”!!

My intention is not to ridicule Cricket, but to point out that we are concentrating all our favor on an unworthy sport. And this support is doing harm to Cricket itself: people managing Cricket are tapping our zeal to fullest, making unhealthy sums of money. The game is marred by unethical practices of match/spot fixing, ridiculing the very public support they enjoy. Also, this aura of Cricket has overshadowed other sports considerably, and now most of the athletic persons are turning towards Cricket, charmed by all its glitter. This scenario will be dangerous for future, widening the gap between Cricket and other sports considerably.

Solution? Let the monetary gains from Cricket be distributed among other sports. This money can be spent on improving sports infrastructure in country. Also, limit the official compensation of Cricketers at par with other athletes. They can get a performance related incentive, and they can always make money from their endorsements. These steps will surely boost the morale of average sport-person and encourage him/her to perform better.

However the final onus is on us: Are we Indians so immature to shower all our love to a rewarding sport, while ignoring all others to oblivion? Cant we behave in a balanced way, appreciating the achievers and encouraging those who missed? Is complete negligence of other sports, a way of telling them to ‘First perform, then expect’? I think this attitude of hovering around an area where we are already good, is a way of turning blind eye to other sports which need improvement…So before we can expect from our sport persons a heavy medal tally like Australia’s in International events, we will have to tone our passion for Cricket and divert some of this enthusiasm to other sports as well.