The clamour after the debacle....

Cricket. The love of the nation. The craze of the people. And to quote Marx (although I doubt he would have approved) opium of the masses. If there's one sport that every Indian child, at least every boy, is expected to know something of, that is cricket. He should know the difference between off-side and on-side, between balling round-the-wicket and balling over-the-wicket, the finer techniques of the game in short.

When India is playing, it is as if productivity MUST decrease, people MUST cease work and watch or listen to the match. With every time the ball is hit across the field boundary by an Indian batsman, the hearts of the onlookers/listeners leap up in joy. Every time an Indian wicket falls, they suffer a mini-stroke. And every time India wins a match, fireworks light up the skies as if it were Diwali that day.

In such a torrent of emotion, how can one expect one to be reasonable in the face of defeat? Mind you, it isn't that India never loses; after all, it too is a human team, not an outfit made of supermen. The only difference is while the others just lose and are seen to have just lost, India loses and is seen to have capitulated. The finer points of the English language are needed here to understand the difference. To have lost is to have tried hard and yet failed, but to have capitulated is to have never tried at all. An insinuation of a most serious nature, if you ask me.

India has exited the World Cup. We lost against Bangladesh, a team considered to be minnows, in a manner described by many as 'shameful'. Our victory against Bermuda was emphatic, but experts opined, "What's the use of performing now against an infant? Where was this spirit when it was needed?" And then we lost against Sri Lanka.

I saw neither match, so I don't know whether the Indian team played with the zeal to win, or was resigned to its loss, but in my heart, I find it hard to believe that any person or group of persons could ever actually WANT to lose. I mean, the way people are burning effigies of the players, the coach, and the BCCI authorities, one would think that these blokes actually had decided before going to the West Indies that they were going to lose these matches and come back empty-handed.

People have called this a shameful performance. I fail to see how India's performance at the World Cup is any different from its performance at the Olympics. Barely 16 countries play at the Cricket World Cup, so having won it doesn't signify anything great. In comparison, 202 countries participate at the Olympics. Nations barely one hundredth the size of India get more medals and accolades than we can muster.

And that is, in my opinion, more 'shameful', if one is to associate that with something, than this. If anything, we should realize that at this juncture, we are just showing that we are simply not good at any sport. If our sports administrators have any brains in their skulls, they would start introspecting about how we can improve on our chances the next time we enter into such competitive meets.

To our players: You have done a good job at what you could have done. That you lost implies that there is more that can be done. Learn from your mistakes and improve the next time, for there always is another chance. It may not be comparable, but a chance is a chance.

To the audience, the fans: To rephrase the Olympic creed, "the most important thing is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."

So, learn from this debacle, if one may term it so, and avoid the mistakes that you have made now.

India In The Blues