The hype over the Indian World Cup victory annoys me a little now, though it has begun to die down with IPL 4 starting yesterday. It is a fantastic achievement by the team, I agree. The final match was a thriller and I enjoyed it - particularly after India won the match and the world cup ! Yes, it was a fine win ; yes, it was a long time coming ; yes, Sachin (above all) deserves to hold the world cup medal and trophy. One week after the win, I feel that the hype is too much.
In the final, there were two superstars of the sub-continent facing each other, with Sachin and Muralitharan playing. My own feeling was a feeling of sadness that one of these would have to walk away unsung, while the other would be revelling in memorable victory. I dreaded to think that Sachin would be left empty handed again and when India did win and Virat Kohli hoisted him on his shoulders, I felt happy for him. I did feel a little sorry for Muralitharan though.
The celebrations have been over the top, as could have been expected. After the match, it looked like urban India was celebrating a second new year in April ! Considering that Ugadi (the new year for AP and Karnataka) and Gudi Padwa (the new year for Maharashtra) was a couple of days later, perhaps the celebration was a little premature ! Cars were stopped and strangers exchanged greetings. One of my cousins said that a drive that should ordinarily have taken less than 10 minutes took more than 45 minutes due to the revelry ! Reportedly, there were thousands of Indians including Sonia Gandhi at India Gate.
This only serves to emphasize that as a nation, we have few events that can get everybody to rejoice. At work, I know that at least 3 people brought sweets on Monday to celebrate. A few years ago, I was one among them and it felt good to see that the baton had passed on ! A couple of my colleagues asked me after the semi final whether I would not celebrate the win over Pakistan, but I said I expect them to do it now ! The victory was personal to a million (billion !) Indians. However, I do feel we have gone overboard now.
There have been other achievements that have not got the attention they deserve : the eternal fighter Paes and the dream team in doubles of Paes and Bhupati have just reclaimed the World No. 1 spot. Hello, Indian media : do you even realize that there are other sports that also require equal (if not more) attention ?! Badminton and tennis may be the affluent sports but our media needs to ensure that the Indian achievements in other sports are provided at least some portion in their coverage.
There are other events that deserve closer coverage also : we see the Japanese stoic in the face of a triple whammy : earthquake, tsunami and nuclear fallout. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2700751/posts lists out 10 points that all of can learn from. The crisis would have reduced most other countries to reveal their negative side : looting, searching for relief and possibly chaos and miserable conditions for the refugees. Some of these negative conditions are seen in Japan as well, but the occurrence is minimal and they have retained their famous adherence to discipline. There is little sign of looting and chaos. I salute the Japanese people. The aftershocks continue to hit Japan, but the nation is facing the natural calamity with a fortitude that is inspiring.
At home, an aged Gandhian is lighting a beacon for the new Lok Pal bill against corruption. The young generation is with him and it looks as if a far, far, milder form of the Jasmine Revolution in the middle east is playing itself out with Twitter and Facebook and SMSs being the rallying point. Compared to all this, to me (now, at the age of 36), cricket seems like a thing of little substance. The media has covered the fast in all earnestness, but the larger issue of the solutions to overcome corruption have not been highlighted, unfortunately. I feel that at times, all of us lack courage leading to the famous "chalta hai" and "adjust maadi" attitude leading to corruption in all walks of life.
The good part of the cricket was the character shown by the Indian team. India looked unconvincing in the group matches and struggled to win over the less fancied teams. There was a shocking collapse against South Africa and after scoring more than 300 against England, our bowling attack looked ordinary as England came close to snatching an unexpected win. We were lucky that the match was tied.
Even in the knock out stages it was largely the lack of quality of our opponents that led to the wins : a bowler like McGrath would not have bowled as loose as Tait and Lee did when Raina came in to bat against Australia. Still, it takes a cool head to take those opportunities and convert them into a platform for a win and twice, the Indian team did just that. In the semi final, Pakistan allowed India to get to 260 but then they started well in reply. It was only in the middle overs that Pakistan choked and India scored a famous win. If they had chosen the batting power play a little earlier, I wonder what would have happened !
It was good to see the first spell of Zaheer in the finals. In 2003, he was erratic. http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/65286.html?innings=1;view=commentary shows that he let two wides in the first over and the Australians seized the initiative from that point itself. In contrast, his spell in the 2011 world cup final was a superb one. He started with an unprecedented three maiden over spell, took a wicket and only then conceded the first run off the bat in his spell as seen in http://www.espncricinfo.com/icc_cricket_worldcup2011/engine/match/433606.html?innings=1;view=commentary !
Sreesanth was in for a hammering and even Zaheer was not spared when Mahela and Perera cut loose in the final overs. At the end of the Sri Lankan innings, the score of 274 was a daunting target to chase down and the dices were loaded against India. My wife and I went for a walk and when one of the TVs in the shops showed a score of 31 for 2, I told my wife that we could extend the walk ! There seemed to be little hope at that point, but how mistaken I was !
Gambhir played smart cricket along with Virat Kohli. They ran hard between the wickets and ensured that the asking rate never got beyond reach. When MS Dhoni came in at Kohli's dismissal, he also ran hard. It was a heroic innings by him. The running tired him, but he kept going and even when Gambhir got out, he kept up the momentum. The Sri Lankan attacked lacked teeth, except for Malinga in this match and India's time had come. Dhoni hit a couple of boundaries off Malinga in the batting powerplay and the crowd was roaring for an anticipated Indian victory. When Dhoni hit the six to seal the win, it was the icing on the cake.
What I like about Dhoni is his candour and courage. He admitted that he had misread the Mohali pitch when he went in with 3 medium pacers and also frankly said that Raina played the Australia match because he was better technically equipped than Pathan. Sreesanth's selection in the final was a controversial one, but it was clear that Dhoni felt three medium pacers were better against Sri Lanka. That was a mistake, but India's cool batting performance meant that it did not matter.
Then the party started in India and abroad of course ! The period of waiting of 28 years is a long one. In 28 years, cricket has transformed itself and a look back at the '83 world cup win merits mention. Coincidentally, the calendars of 1983 and 2011 are same as seen in http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/?year=1983&country=35. I only hope this does not mean we have to wait another 28 years for an Indian win in the world cup !
In '83, television was just becoming common. In '82 or so, we got a black and white Crown TV presented by an uncle, which used valves instead of the chips that we see in today's televisions. In the residential quarters where we stayed in Mumbai, we were the second house to have a TV set long before colour TV and the Asian games of '82 made TVs ubiquitous.
The '83 cup began without any hype and fan interest and it created a big sensation only after Kapil and his team defeated the West Indies in the final. http://www.espncricinfo.com/wc1983/engine/series/60832.html has information about the tournament. My interest in cricket began slightly earlier, when Keith Fletcher's England team toured India. I recall that Gundappa Vishwanath scored 222 in the series and I think his position was under threat then : I remember that there was talk that he had been to Tirupati before the series or match. That initial interest in cricket made me maintain a notebook where I used to write cricket scores and I find that I have written the scores of the '83 final. My interest continued in subsequent one day tournaments like the '85 Benson and Hedges World Championship of Cricket, the '87 world cup, etc.
I remember little of actually seeing the '83 finals live on TV though I have seen enough of the umpteen replays on our TV channels now ! Again, my memory picks out that a couple named their child "Prudential", after the finals. I seem to remember this article in one of the inside pages of the Times of India as part of their post world cup coverage ! I don't know if I can trust my memory, though. When I searched for it in Google, I was unable to find any reference to it. Another incident I remember is the return of the Indian team after the world cup win. Since I did not know Marathi fluently, I identified with Kapil when he said "Mala Marathi yet nahin" ("I do not know Marathi", or it may be words to that effect) after returning to a hero's welcome in Mumbai !
The '83 win had several factors that culminated in the final victory : Good medium pace bowling by Roger Binny, Madan Lal, presence of all rounders like Kirti Azad, a young Ravi Shastri, Kapil himself, Mohinder Amarnath and a batting that clicked when it was required, best exemplified by Kapil's 175 ! Though Sunil Gavaskar's form was a big disappointment, the others contributed and the result was good.
That world cup win (coupled with the television coverage) set the stage for an increase in the national obsession with cricket. The Benson and Hedges series, the Sharjah Rothman's Cup, the '87 world cup all laid the foundation for a national passion for cricket that continues until today, particularly in the one day format and now, T20.
A young Sachin Tendulkar was a ball boy in the '87 semi final. He says it was his dream to win the world cup. From that day of 25-Jun-83 to 2-Apr-2010, it has been a long wait. Finally, he has achieved that dream. There are other stars who have missed out, like Anil Kumble, Saurav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, but with Sachin holding aloft the world cup, they can take some consolation that one of their own contemporaries has fulfilled a dream for them.
In the final, there were two superstars of the sub-continent facing each other, with Sachin and Muralitharan playing. My own feeling was a feeling of sadness that one of these would have to walk away unsung, while the other would be revelling in memorable victory. I dreaded to think that Sachin would be left empty handed again and when India did win and Virat Kohli hoisted him on his shoulders, I felt happy for him. I did feel a little sorry for Muralitharan though.
The celebrations have been over the top, as could have been expected. After the match, it looked like urban India was celebrating a second new year in April ! Considering that Ugadi (the new year for AP and Karnataka) and Gudi Padwa (the new year for Maharashtra) was a couple of days later, perhaps the celebration was a little premature ! Cars were stopped and strangers exchanged greetings. One of my cousins said that a drive that should ordinarily have taken less than 10 minutes took more than 45 minutes due to the revelry ! Reportedly, there were thousands of Indians including Sonia Gandhi at India Gate.
This only serves to emphasize that as a nation, we have few events that can get everybody to rejoice. At work, I know that at least 3 people brought sweets on Monday to celebrate. A few years ago, I was one among them and it felt good to see that the baton had passed on ! A couple of my colleagues asked me after the semi final whether I would not celebrate the win over Pakistan, but I said I expect them to do it now ! The victory was personal to a million (billion !) Indians. However, I do feel we have gone overboard now.
There have been other achievements that have not got the attention they deserve : the eternal fighter Paes and the dream team in doubles of Paes and Bhupati have just reclaimed the World No. 1 spot. Hello, Indian media : do you even realize that there are other sports that also require equal (if not more) attention ?! Badminton and tennis may be the affluent sports but our media needs to ensure that the Indian achievements in other sports are provided at least some portion in their coverage.
There are other events that deserve closer coverage also : we see the Japanese stoic in the face of a triple whammy : earthquake, tsunami and nuclear fallout. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2700751/posts lists out 10 points that all of can learn from. The crisis would have reduced most other countries to reveal their negative side : looting, searching for relief and possibly chaos and miserable conditions for the refugees. Some of these negative conditions are seen in Japan as well, but the occurrence is minimal and they have retained their famous adherence to discipline. There is little sign of looting and chaos. I salute the Japanese people. The aftershocks continue to hit Japan, but the nation is facing the natural calamity with a fortitude that is inspiring.
At home, an aged Gandhian is lighting a beacon for the new Lok Pal bill against corruption. The young generation is with him and it looks as if a far, far, milder form of the Jasmine Revolution in the middle east is playing itself out with Twitter and Facebook and SMSs being the rallying point. Compared to all this, to me (now, at the age of 36), cricket seems like a thing of little substance. The media has covered the fast in all earnestness, but the larger issue of the solutions to overcome corruption have not been highlighted, unfortunately. I feel that at times, all of us lack courage leading to the famous "chalta hai" and "adjust maadi" attitude leading to corruption in all walks of life.
The good part of the cricket was the character shown by the Indian team. India looked unconvincing in the group matches and struggled to win over the less fancied teams. There was a shocking collapse against South Africa and after scoring more than 300 against England, our bowling attack looked ordinary as England came close to snatching an unexpected win. We were lucky that the match was tied.
Even in the knock out stages it was largely the lack of quality of our opponents that led to the wins : a bowler like McGrath would not have bowled as loose as Tait and Lee did when Raina came in to bat against Australia. Still, it takes a cool head to take those opportunities and convert them into a platform for a win and twice, the Indian team did just that. In the semi final, Pakistan allowed India to get to 260 but then they started well in reply. It was only in the middle overs that Pakistan choked and India scored a famous win. If they had chosen the batting power play a little earlier, I wonder what would have happened !
It was good to see the first spell of Zaheer in the finals. In 2003, he was erratic. http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/65286.html?innings=1;view=commentary shows that he let two wides in the first over and the Australians seized the initiative from that point itself. In contrast, his spell in the 2011 world cup final was a superb one. He started with an unprecedented three maiden over spell, took a wicket and only then conceded the first run off the bat in his spell as seen in http://www.espncricinfo.com/icc_cricket_worldcup2011/engine/match/433606.html?innings=1;view=commentary !
Sreesanth was in for a hammering and even Zaheer was not spared when Mahela and Perera cut loose in the final overs. At the end of the Sri Lankan innings, the score of 274 was a daunting target to chase down and the dices were loaded against India. My wife and I went for a walk and when one of the TVs in the shops showed a score of 31 for 2, I told my wife that we could extend the walk ! There seemed to be little hope at that point, but how mistaken I was !
Gambhir played smart cricket along with Virat Kohli. They ran hard between the wickets and ensured that the asking rate never got beyond reach. When MS Dhoni came in at Kohli's dismissal, he also ran hard. It was a heroic innings by him. The running tired him, but he kept going and even when Gambhir got out, he kept up the momentum. The Sri Lankan attacked lacked teeth, except for Malinga in this match and India's time had come. Dhoni hit a couple of boundaries off Malinga in the batting powerplay and the crowd was roaring for an anticipated Indian victory. When Dhoni hit the six to seal the win, it was the icing on the cake.
What I like about Dhoni is his candour and courage. He admitted that he had misread the Mohali pitch when he went in with 3 medium pacers and also frankly said that Raina played the Australia match because he was better technically equipped than Pathan. Sreesanth's selection in the final was a controversial one, but it was clear that Dhoni felt three medium pacers were better against Sri Lanka. That was a mistake, but India's cool batting performance meant that it did not matter.
Then the party started in India and abroad of course ! The period of waiting of 28 years is a long one. In 28 years, cricket has transformed itself and a look back at the '83 world cup win merits mention. Coincidentally, the calendars of 1983 and 2011 are same as seen in http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/?year=1983&country=35. I only hope this does not mean we have to wait another 28 years for an Indian win in the world cup !
In '83, television was just becoming common. In '82 or so, we got a black and white Crown TV presented by an uncle, which used valves instead of the chips that we see in today's televisions. In the residential quarters where we stayed in Mumbai, we were the second house to have a TV set long before colour TV and the Asian games of '82 made TVs ubiquitous.
The '83 cup began without any hype and fan interest and it created a big sensation only after Kapil and his team defeated the West Indies in the final. http://www.espncricinfo.com/wc1983/engine/series/60832.html has information about the tournament. My interest in cricket began slightly earlier, when Keith Fletcher's England team toured India. I recall that Gundappa Vishwanath scored 222 in the series and I think his position was under threat then : I remember that there was talk that he had been to Tirupati before the series or match. That initial interest in cricket made me maintain a notebook where I used to write cricket scores and I find that I have written the scores of the '83 final. My interest continued in subsequent one day tournaments like the '85 Benson and Hedges World Championship of Cricket, the '87 world cup, etc.
I remember little of actually seeing the '83 finals live on TV though I have seen enough of the umpteen replays on our TV channels now ! Again, my memory picks out that a couple named their child "Prudential", after the finals. I seem to remember this article in one of the inside pages of the Times of India as part of their post world cup coverage ! I don't know if I can trust my memory, though. When I searched for it in Google, I was unable to find any reference to it. Another incident I remember is the return of the Indian team after the world cup win. Since I did not know Marathi fluently, I identified with Kapil when he said "Mala Marathi yet nahin" ("I do not know Marathi", or it may be words to that effect) after returning to a hero's welcome in Mumbai !
The '83 win had several factors that culminated in the final victory : Good medium pace bowling by Roger Binny, Madan Lal, presence of all rounders like Kirti Azad, a young Ravi Shastri, Kapil himself, Mohinder Amarnath and a batting that clicked when it was required, best exemplified by Kapil's 175 ! Though Sunil Gavaskar's form was a big disappointment, the others contributed and the result was good.
That world cup win (coupled with the television coverage) set the stage for an increase in the national obsession with cricket. The Benson and Hedges series, the Sharjah Rothman's Cup, the '87 world cup all laid the foundation for a national passion for cricket that continues until today, particularly in the one day format and now, T20.
A young Sachin Tendulkar was a ball boy in the '87 semi final. He says it was his dream to win the world cup. From that day of 25-Jun-83 to 2-Apr-2010, it has been a long wait. Finally, he has achieved that dream. There are other stars who have missed out, like Anil Kumble, Saurav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, but with Sachin holding aloft the world cup, they can take some consolation that one of their own contemporaries has fulfilled a dream for them.
Its the same story all over again. Cricket continues to receive the hype ... but then it is really every man's game, being a game that requires a minimum investment from both teams that play other than a ball, a dhobhi styled bat and 3 sticks or a cardboard box. In this the media/advertizers has a readymade market, the same cannot be said for tennis, chess or hockey ... other than soccer! unfair, but isnt this what the the market demands in a cricket crazy land? Even the rest of the world wants to play in India (ref. IPL) and we have Afridi crying foul that paki cricketers are being left out of the money equation! Looks like infrastucture is key. Only soccer can replace the hype that cricket generates and unless we have 4/5 doz Baichung Bhutia's to play for the states/clubs even soccer is going to get lower coverage ... all except for world cup soccer.
ReplyDeleteGood article Kiran. Good comparison of Cricket win celebration and Anna hazare uprising. But i think there is too much eleboration of match, there by, focus of topic is some what shifted. Good to know that you remember 83 word cup win celebrations. Good suggestion that media should have balanced approch towards all sports. But contemporary world is commercialized for money making. Its the people who have to correct themselves and change their mindset - so that society can have balanced approach towards sports, way of life, politics etc.
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