No, this post isn’t a knee jerk reaction to last night’s incredible loss to South Africa. Have been meaning to write this for some time, but was stuck with more pressing matters.
1. Crowds: Historian Ramachandra Guha said this to me, and I totally agree with him. The intense crowd pressure and the explosive media hype gets into the heads of our cricketers. And they succumb to it. Only Sachin and Veeru are immune to it… the former because he’s mentally strong, and the latter because, a la Salman Khan, he lives on another planet. India will always find it difficult to win a big cricket tournament in India. Their best bet is the foreign soil. History will bear this out. And those crazy ads like ‘Jeetana padta hai’ egg on the crowds to go madder and more unreal than they already are.
2. Sachin: The entire attitude has been all wrong. And the Aussie players, who we chronically accuse of indulging in ‘mental degradation tactics’, were actually right about it. The players want to win the Cup for Tendlya. That is both, stupid and morale deflating. You play for your country and not an individual. However godly his status. It is always about the team. This impetuous on Sachin may be de-motivating the others in what is very clearly a team sport. The 1983 Cup and the 2007 T20 Cup were won because there was no god in the team. Everyone was equal, everyone pitched in equally. That is the reason the Aussies consistently win. They have no gods. Incidentally, this attitude also puts needless additional pressure on Tendulkar.
3. Dhoni: India’s ‘lucky mascot’ is slowly losing his lucky charm. All the talk about India’s best ever captain has affected his mind set. And the cool, earthy approach of the past has given away to an egoistic temperament. His seems to be indulging in nepotism (sub standard players are being selected over meritorious ones). And the impression going around is you have to suck up to the captain if you want to retain your place. That is a disaster. Not just for a sports team, for any organization. Also, the bad ego. If the media says Piyush Chawla is bad news, Dhoni MUST select him to prove them wrong. Another disaster. One more thing: Dhoni has forgotten the art of solid batting. Big loss, that.
4. IPL: The IPL has diluted the hunger to succeed for some of our boys. This is perhaps also why they are all busy sprouting beer bellies. Consider this: Gautam Gambhir has just been credited with 11 crore rupees in a single year by Shah Rukh’s team. That’s serious money in the kitty already. Ditto with Yusuf Pathan. How much does it matter to them then if we win or lose the World Cup? Their life is already sorted out, man. And I am not even going down the endorsements road.
5. Pathetic bowlers.
6. Even more pathetic fielders.
Yes, despite all the above, we could win. Because all it takes in a limited overs match is for a rival team to have a bad hair day. However, we need to get real about our expectations. And we need to keep the emotions in check. A tough ask with Indians, for sure.
