The Incredible Game

I only write when something inspires me to write. Something incredibly inspirational happened on 2nd April 2011. India lifted the world cup after 28 years. Wow what a game. I was just 3 years old and when India under Kapil Dev won the world cup and am positive I did not understand what the fuss was all about. Fair enough to say that I do a little now though. Disclaimer before any one starts reading: Indian fans are the best, they bring more energy to the game than any other country!.This is just my opinion, on how I think we should be watching the game. My rambling here is also inspired by photos of the Sri Lankan team being greeted back home with cheers after the World Cup Finals. No taking away Jayawardane's super performace. This is what got me thinking about cricket and how we view it here in India. I have never really been an avid cricket watcher, I learnt about it from my dad, watched my first real world cup in 1996. Since then I watch a few matches now and then, hate the IPL (traditionalist at heart, am still for a full 50 over match sans the cheerleaders – what happened to cricket being a gentleman’s game?). Still a fan of the Chennai Super Kings though and am slowly warming up to the concept. I think I am also one of the few Indians for whom cricket was and is just a sport, it’s about good teams giving their best, and has very little to do with emotions and more to do with enjoying the game. Isn’t that what sport is about? Or have we Indians made cricket a religion? Sachin Tendulkar is God? I have never quite understood this equation. To me religion is nothing but faith, faith and belief in some sort of higher power that gives us more confidence makes us go through the day just a little bit easier. When we go through tough times, we fall back on this religion, do we lose faith? Do we give it up? Then I have just one question to ask - why do we give up on the Indian Team? I am asking this question because I know a lot of people didn’t believe India would win against Australia, thought at some point Pakistan had the upper hand in the semi finals, and a LOT of them were second guessing our chances against Sri Lanka. How many of us got a little uncomfortable when Sri Lanka made 274? How many of us thought India would not be able to chase this so called mammoth target? How many of us actually thought Malinga and Murali were enough to bull doze the Indian batting line up? How many of us at 31-2 thought the curtains had closed? We lost our God? These are thoughts that come into every Indian fan’s mind. And it’s not wrong, but terribly unfair to the team. What if India had lost? What about the credit to them for having reached the finals? Would we have greeted them with a garland of shoes, thrown stones into their houses? Or greeted them like winners should be greeted? We cheer them during their success and then look for heads to roll if something goes wrong. We place them on pedestals and are the first ones to pull them down if they fail. Lucky for the Indian team this time, they didn’t. And no it is not because we prayed; it’s only because they played fantastically as a team. It’s time they got the credit. I am a huge fan of the Indian Team, and was overjoyed when they won. More importantly I enjoyed every minute of the game. Because that’s what it is at the end of the day.