Disclaimer: This is not so much as a World Cup discussion as it is a cribbing of the recent events with the game's biggest tournament.
There was always an unhealthy obesession with the game in the subcontinent. It ceased being just a sport. It was a religion. And the demi-Gods had let us down. The team with the most runs on paper, the "Men in Blue" all gave the most abysmal performances of their career. Under the umbrella of one of cricket's greatest's career, under Sachin Tendulkar's career, India have not won a single World Cup. Its just the dumps.
So what went wrong? Was it the overconfidence? The complacence? The over-exposure making money and ads? The lack of commitment? Pressure? 1 billion hopes? Or was it just all of this?
The most optimistic-yet-cautious supporter in me was in denial when Bangladesh had us confounded. Hope against hope, I thought this would waken the lions that we would love to believe we are against the Lankan tigers. Not to be. Another sucky performance. And it was almost illegal to hope that Bermuda could beat Bangladesh. It was ridiculous letting our fate being decided by two other teams. And I would have personally recommended India forfeat if ever Bermuda beat Bangladesh. That wasn't to be. And the Men-In-Blue head back. TO make more ads... make more money.. irrespective of the career slump or anything else. As long as their purses kept jingling, it doesnt look like they are bothered for too much more.
Dad tells me that the cricket-based ads have been put on hold. Considering the majority of the 1-billion no longer wanna see them. This is normal. What scares me is some of the obsessive folk, some of the variety thats going to go around burning Dhoni's house or Sachin's restaurant. Dad also tells me that the players are expected to arrive in an undisclosed variety of flights. What next?
Personally, I think we should let all of these legends go. Their time's up. Its time for young blood. Newer players, newer ideas. We lose then... we lose with a learning new team. Not the biggest names in cricket. We need mew energy, new strategies, a whole new plan. So much for all those emails pointing out striking similarities between our 1983 victory and our horrendous start this world cup.
Revamp, India!
7 comments:
I didnt see the josh which we had in the prev WC. In this WC we had great "individual" players snd very few team players....they were not glued together...i heard rumours that Chappel has left for Australia silently....and i dont think that his contract will be renewed,,,lot of heads will rolll.....and thats for sure...There was once a saying...achivement is not staying on the highest himalayan peak....but to reach it again after you get down....
Seetharaman the kid
Heh heh..."mew energy"?...hurrah for kitty power :P
Nice rant :)
Thanks for all the comments folks..
Soccer anyone? Or maybe even Badminton age old indian sport aint it... :D
so true... i think it was complacence which costed us the bangladesh match and then the fear and pressure which threw us out of the tournament by lankans. well atleast they killed the hope earlier so people like me wont waste more time to follow them till the very end and then lose a dramatic all emotional game. i feel sorry for my friends who bought a $200 subscription to watch the cup, and another one who got a travel package. Guess its time to leave the 'flat' and start following the 'round' bat.
peace
Ah..its sad everyone's responding this way! I am a fan of cricket! And just coz India sucked in the world cup, doesn't mean I stop following the game?! I am in fact enjoying the tournament more than ever with some really high quality matches. On that note, Suds - I do love soccer and fervently followed its own World Cup. And Anurag -> Keep coming!
It was world cup defeat earlier and now its going to be Chappell's report which was made public is going to do damage to all senior players in the team.
One of the statements states that the senior players are preventing younger members to enter the team.
Its really disgusting to hear that statement from a coach. The game is brought down by this kind of disclosure which should have been kept confidential and discussed among BCCI committee.
But we still believe that our team will definitely come back to form.
What we really lacked is the mental toughness to perform in tough conditions and we need to learn it from the Australians.
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