It is often said in India “Angrez chale gaye lekin Angreziat aur cricket chhod gaye” (English left India, but left behind Englishness and the game of Cricket). I won’t comment on the Angreziat part, but definitely want to talk about cricket. In India cricket is not a game, it’s a religion, the game for which people turn fanatic. We do have different cultures, languages, traditions but they all come together when they see the men in blue playing. The tri-color flying high, men and women, young and old having painted their faces with the tri-color is a common sight in the stadium and elsewhere. They love the game and they worship the cricketers. Now this can be problematic at times and you would see how. Indian fans go to an extent of conducting puja’s, havans or even fasting to see the men in blue win. I have never seen this anywhere else in the world, this kind of love, affection for the players. But beware; there are pros and cons of being an Indian cricketer.
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| Religions in India |
An Indian cricketer lives life king size. The money, adulation, fame is at his feet. They are demi gods. You perform well, you would be praised limitless, the fans would sing paeans for you, and you would be worshiped to the extent the gods in heaven would get jealous. You would be showered with monikers like “Master Blaster”, “The Wall”, “Mr. dependable” and many others which would inflate your ego big time. Every company would like you to endorse their product. Everything will be surreal. But do remember everything in life is “EPHEMERAL”. The moment you stop performing the demi god status would change to “Demons” in the minds of the fans, and you would be castigated royally, you would be given names like “a liability”, “good for nothing”, there would be a war cry to kick you out of the team forever, the endorsements would recede and in no time you would turn into a black sheep from a blue eyed boy. Isn’t this change frightening?
This is exactly what has happened to our very own Yuvraj Singh aka Yuvi, the destiny’s child. One bad day at office and he is made a villain by the people, fans, media. His innings in the T20 final against Sri Lanka is going to haunt him for life time. He having consumed 21 balls to score just 11 runs is considered to be the main reason for India losing that match and the cup, and this has not gone down well with the Indian fans who have turned their back on him; the same Yuvraj Singh, who won the 2 world cups earlier for team India, the same Yuvi who hit six sixes in one Stuart Broad over, the same Yuvi who rescued team India many a times from precarious situations and helped them win, but these past laurels have not come to Yuvi’s rescue. Fans (???) pelted stones at his house; many jokes in the media have surfaced slandering poor Yuvi.
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| Prints in media slandering YUVI |
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| Expectations from YUVI |
Some of the former cricketers have even declared he is past his prime etc. It is such a coincidence that in one of the advertisement he talks about how one enjoys praise till one is playing well else…(“Jab tak balla chala tab tak That hai”) and him getting to experience it. I am pretty sure his autobiography would have the same name as the great Nelson Mandela’s with a small difference, “A long walk to the pavilion”. But all this negativity is not going to bog down a fighter in him. He will come out stronger and will be a name to reckon, in doing so he does not need to prove anything to anyone; he has been a champion and will remain one. There are many such instances in Indian cricket where the player was at the ZENITH with great performances, but he was quickly pulled to the NADIR while he performed badly. "Bouquets and brickbats", "Praise and Slander" are the 2 sides of the same coin named Indian cricket.
The backlash Yuvi faced at the hand of the fans, media should not have happened at all, but I would say it’s not their fault as well. These fans just want to see the men in blue win; they want to see the Indian tri-color flying high all the time. But they need to understand that this is just a game and someone wins and someone loses, and at times the opposition plays better. Media, fans should leave Yuvi alone for some time and let him regroup and come out stronger. We ALL are with you YUVI.
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| Champion YUVI |
Now with all these high’s and low’s in a cricketer’s life, do you still wanna be an Indian Cricketer?
Very true! Public has very less memory of one's successes and achievements. They always remember the current. That should not deter a performer. That's the way the entire world is.
ReplyDeleteHey thanks there for taking your time off and reading and commenting on the post. Actually this happens more with Asian teams. With one win we put them on pedestal and a loss we slander them no ends. But as you rightly put, it wont deter a performer and he would take it in his stride and move forward
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