Cricket, of late, has achieved the greater than God image in our country. So I was pondering over the fact that how cricket became the hearts or even the lifeblood of such a vast majority of Indians. As many sports-stars have started to express their anguish over the way their respective sports are languishing in the drains without any attention from the authorities, I began to drool over the fact that why cricket has achieved such an image in the country. Whats so special or superior in cricket that other games dont have?
Is it athleticism? If so people must must be dying behind Leander Paes or Anju Bobby George or P.T.Usha.. Is it the verve or the vivacity? If so people must be egging on Dhanraj Pillay or Baichung Bhutia or Vijayan.. Is it the brilliance? If so we always have the Genius Vishy with us. Is it the accuracy or the concentration? Even then we have the Olympic stalwarts Rathore or Bindra.. Is t sheer strength and stamina.. Then why are we not behind Jitender or Akhil? Why is it that we rally our hearts and eventually our lives behind Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid or the latest heart throb Mahendra Singh Dhoni..
These were the questions that were constantly running at the back of my mind.. I was dying desperately for the answers.. And one fine morning a TV news channel was flashing the interview of Muttiah Muralitharan, the spin wizard of Sri Lanka.. He was bamboozled by the fanaticism of Indian fans. When questioned how India had been able to gather such a fan following, pat came a smart answer from the spinning great.. His reply was, "The dream of a developing nation is to see itself garner glory in the international arena and the only game where India is consistently at the top is CRICKET".
Suddenly, it all struck me.. Cricket is the only game where India after the 1983 WC magic has catapulted itself to dizzy heights that and had captured the imagination of the people.. The fever had started and with the rise of media power cricket just started SIZZLING.. But I still kept on wondering.. Even then Hockey had performed so well on the international stage with its dazzling display of Olympic golds.. But that all fizzled out in the mind 70's because of a combination of politics,poor infastructure and ALSO cricket.. Whilst cricket kept on focussing on performance.. The competition in hockey and other games got tougher and tougher and slowly India fizzled out.. I am not trying to blame anyone or anything.. It was bound to happen.. It just happened..
So there is no point in simply blaming cricket for India's poor showing at the Olympics.. See the irony here.. This poor showing by India in the Olympics is its best.. :) So now that we have slowly voiced our opininons out and the officials are waking up, ther is light at the end of the tunnel for other sports.. It s upto the respective management to grab the opportunity with both hands.. Who may know? We may very well be the HIGHEST in the Medals Tally in the London Olympics or we may grab the trophy in FIFA World Cup or WC Hockey in a couple of years.. Do u term t as GREED???? Not at all because we can take heart from the fact that India won 50-50 WC in 1983 and 20-20 WC as UNDERDOGS.. :) INDIA ROCKS.. JAI HIND.. CHAK DE INDIA!!!
With Love,
Vignesh
Is it athleticism? If so people must must be dying behind Leander Paes or Anju Bobby George or P.T.Usha.. Is it the verve or the vivacity? If so people must be egging on Dhanraj Pillay or Baichung Bhutia or Vijayan.. Is it the brilliance? If so we always have the Genius Vishy with us. Is it the accuracy or the concentration? Even then we have the Olympic stalwarts Rathore or Bindra.. Is t sheer strength and stamina.. Then why are we not behind Jitender or Akhil? Why is it that we rally our hearts and eventually our lives behind Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid or the latest heart throb Mahendra Singh Dhoni..
These were the questions that were constantly running at the back of my mind.. I was dying desperately for the answers.. And one fine morning a TV news channel was flashing the interview of Muttiah Muralitharan, the spin wizard of Sri Lanka.. He was bamboozled by the fanaticism of Indian fans. When questioned how India had been able to gather such a fan following, pat came a smart answer from the spinning great.. His reply was, "The dream of a developing nation is to see itself garner glory in the international arena and the only game where India is consistently at the top is CRICKET".
Suddenly, it all struck me.. Cricket is the only game where India after the 1983 WC magic has catapulted itself to dizzy heights that and had captured the imagination of the people.. The fever had started and with the rise of media power cricket just started SIZZLING.. But I still kept on wondering.. Even then Hockey had performed so well on the international stage with its dazzling display of Olympic golds.. But that all fizzled out in the mind 70's because of a combination of politics,poor infastructure and ALSO cricket.. Whilst cricket kept on focussing on performance.. The competition in hockey and other games got tougher and tougher and slowly India fizzled out.. I am not trying to blame anyone or anything.. It was bound to happen.. It just happened..
So there is no point in simply blaming cricket for India's poor showing at the Olympics.. See the irony here.. This poor showing by India in the Olympics is its best.. :) So now that we have slowly voiced our opininons out and the officials are waking up, ther is light at the end of the tunnel for other sports.. It s upto the respective management to grab the opportunity with both hands.. Who may know? We may very well be the HIGHEST in the Medals Tally in the London Olympics or we may grab the trophy in FIFA World Cup or WC Hockey in a couple of years.. Do u term t as GREED???? Not at all because we can take heart from the fact that India won 50-50 WC in 1983 and 20-20 WC as UNDERDOGS.. :) INDIA ROCKS.. JAI HIND.. CHAK DE INDIA!!!
With Love,
Vignesh
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