Match ka Mujarim

I watched the series finale yesterday. India lost the match even though the target was stiff, the pitch was still playing true though some balls were keeping low, and we had the second best batting line up in the world (or so dada claims).

But what made the day entertaining was this program that I watched on Star News later yesterday night. Had a very corny name "Match ka Mujarim". Interesting name is all I would say. The public was furious and there were three panelists Zaheer Abbas the great Pakistaani batsman, Kirmani one of Indias finest keepers and the chairman of selectors and Bishan Singh Bedi probably Indias best left arm spinner and known to be a guy who is very anti BCCI.

It was sad to see so many fans cribbing so much about the team. I mean as Kirmani kept saying that winning and losing keep happening, the public came up with some stupid questions like "Does Sachin think hes bigger than the team ?" Does anyone in India even have any indication of the pressure that he goes through each time he bats. He has played exceedingly well till about the past couple of years when he has changed his game and mellowed down. A phenomenal player to say the least, one only needs to look at Lara to realise what can happen when the pressure gets to you.

On the other hand people keep questioning the players doing ads. Are they plain jealous or what ? I accept the fact that they are probably overpaid considering the recent performances but why are they handed out such lucrative contracts, precisely for the reason that the same public idolises them, if they stop doing that then they wouldnt get such obscenely huge amounts of money. We have had people like Geet Sethi 7 times world champion or Pankaj Advani, Gopichand, Jaspal Rana the list goes on but we dont see them in any ads why coz the public aint interested in them but on the other hand Sania Mirza who hasnt won any major tournament (same thing can be said of the Indian cricket team) is the talk of the town one only needs to read Times of India to know that, bloody ell I have her face smiling down on me from numersous billboards. My point being that unless we stop worshipping these cricketers they will keep getting such ads.

And finally Indians are by nature not a nation that takes to sports actively. Not too many guys in school play any game at even a semi serious level, gali cricket not withstanding. Anyone who has played any game at even a club level knows that there are sometimes when things just dont turn out the way you want them to, and you win some and loose some. Even if you have the best strategy things can go horribly worng and theres nothing you can do about it. You lose, you cop it on the shoulder and go on with life, no point in doing the analysis that the numerous cricket shown on all the news channels with players who have mostly failed to do anything of note at the international level do. If its constructive its probably still ok but some of the jokers are just unbearable. So all the public at the star news show I think were just playing to the gallery its bloody become a movie show, Bedi sometime in the show said "The cricket team Should stop playing with the emotions of the indian public" if our emotions depend on the cricket teams performance then all I can say is "Dude get a life"

"If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;"

Kipling "If"