Cricket, Our Religion
Posted by Lucas on September 27th, 2007
India has finally reached the pinnacle of glory this week and I am not talking about the Sensex crossing the 17,000 mark for the first time. I am of course talking about India’s greatest-ever achievement in the sports arena - beating Pakistan in the Final to become World Champions in Twenty20 Cricket.
For all their toil and subsequent humiliation in this year’s ODI World Cup, the Indian players have redeemed themselves by their triumph in the Twenty20 format, a moment of crowing glory for a sport par excellence. We cursed the players, hit their homes with stones, promised we would never watch cricket again, after the ODI World Cup debacle but we will forever sing this team’s praises, at least until we win our next World Cup. I am sure a Ten10 World Cup is just around the corner.
In the midst of all the celebrations comes the dampener that Indian hockey players (it seems they won the Asia Cup a few weeks back) are protesting against the ’step-motherly’ treatment’ meted out by the various state governments who decided to award lakhs of money to the victorious cricketers from their respective states, but ignored the hockey players.
There are similar accusations against the Punjab, Jharkhand and Haryana governments, and Air India, and the Sahara Group, a sponsor for both the cricket and hockey teams.
Some of us might wrongly mistake Vikram Kanth, Raghunath, Sunil and Tirkey for Kollywood heroes but it seems they are some of our national hockey players who feel irked that the Karnataka government has announced a cash reward of Rs.5 lakh each to the members of the victorious Indian cricket team. If the government succumb to these players’ demands, before long all other sportspersons in India would go on a hunger-strike.
I don’t understand this entire hullabaloo about cash rewards. Agreed that some cricketers make millions from endorsements but what about a couple of lesser players earning much less compared to the crores earned by some senior players. After all, they cheered their team on from the dug-out and helped tie the shoe-laces of the players going out to bat. Tell me, who has enough money? After all, money is worthless unless some people have it and others do not.
Cricket is more than a religion (as any fan would reiterate!) in India and that is because we won the World Cup about 25 years ago and in spite of years of under-achievement, countless humiliations, and match-fixing scandals, Indians love their sports, which is not just restricted to cricket. We do cheer for Sania sometimes.
Just 11 countries from all over Asia took part in the Asia Cup. On the other hand, 12 countries (not including Namibia, Bermuda, Canada, Ethiopia) from all over the world participated in the World Twenty20 Championships. The Indians scored 57 goals and conceded just 5 in the Asia Cup but then Yuvraj scored 6 sixers in an over! We all know which is front-page news. And, Yuvraj will kick Tirkey’s ass right out of the ground.
Also, Shahrukh might have portrayed the role of a hockey coach in Chak De India…but we all noticed that the star of Indian Cinema preferred to cheer the Indian Cricket team in the Twenty20 final in South Africa than cheer the Indian hockey team at home.
The hockey players are envious of the cricketers just because the Sahara Group has decided to award a house each for the cricketers but gave the finger to the victorious hockey team. These hockey players should be satisfied with the commendation letters they received from the President of India. They can sell the letters on e-bay and if they are lucky, they might even manage to get the same amount of money that our cricketers spend on their hair-cuts. Those losers.
We have not won any medal in our national sport hockey (after 1980) be it in the Olympics or the World Cup. But in cricket, after years of ignominy, we have won the greatest of them all…the World Twenty20 Championships. With a feeling of smugness, we showered the victorious cricket team with flowers during their victory parade. Perhaps, it is time to make Cricket the national game. We do not care even if India wins medals in the Olympics and the World Cup. We will watch only Cricket. Who gives a damn about medals in other sports? We have won the Twenty20 World Cup and that’s all matters, this is enough to keep us happy…at least for another 25 years.
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September 27th, 2007 at 2:49 am
Spoken like a true Cricketer fan!
September 27th, 2007 at 8:19 am
Nice article…but spare a thought for the poor hockey guys dude!!!
September 27th, 2007 at 10:13 am
Does Hockey deserve to be our national sport is a hotly debated issue.
You hardly find India winning any major tournament in Hockey. On the other hand when we talk of cricket India do win many important and crucial matches or sometimes even the tournament(if they dont get “choked” in the finals).
People are passionate about cricket.
Its really a religion in this part of the world.
I feel sorry for the “poor hockey guyz”. But no one can help them. If they want to get noticed, hunger strike will not do any good,just try to raise standards. Produce results.
September 28th, 2007 at 5:36 am
Great Read! Its high time they made cricket the national game of the country. People love it and so do our dear politicians, so why pretend that we “love” hockey and Kabaddi?
September 28th, 2007 at 6:53 am
Its very unfair for hockey professionals to compare with cricket not only in India but also across countries where cricket and hockey r both played.Cricket is by far the superior sport say it Australia,Pakistan,England,South Africa and others.So there is no point in pondering over Cricketers sucess which they truly deserve.Its time for the Hockey federations to wake up and take right steps for the improvement of the sport in a commercial way.and thats the only way ahead,they cannot just keep thinking of cricket which is going to hurt them dearly.Reality bites?
October 4th, 2007 at 8:03 am
After reading the comments, I am quite sure not many people realize that the post is a satire on cricket and the sarcasm aimed at people who feel winning a 20-20 C’ship is the ultimate achievement in the sporting arena. Anyone who thinks cricket should replace hockey as the national game is clearly not thinking right…cricket fans insist that the federation should take the right steps to improve hockey but what about the clear bias on the part of various governments and other private groups. Tell me, why were the hockey players not rewarded for their efforts? And, why this bias for cricket, which btw, is not even an Olympic sport but one where we flop at every World Cup. But no, after years of humiliation, the 20-20 Cup is seen as a redemption…and we will continue to dwell on this glory for another 20 years, while we cheer our beloved team with lavish praises for their victories over Zimbabwe, Kenya, Bangladesh.
Btw, countries such as South Africa, Australia and England are not just one-sport nation. In fact, cricket is the Aussies’ national sport. But then, Australian rules football is by far the most popular sport in terms of attendance and television figures. Australia continue to remain a force to reckon with in rugby, hockey…and they excel in Olympics too, with a huge medal haul… it’s not just cricket for them. Same case with South Africa…they give equal importance to all sports. Well, England is entirely different matter…they invented most sports but they never excel in any but then cricket is not as popular as football is…but then, at least media coverage is there for every sport! So, stop saying cricket rules in these countries. I would say cricket survives just because a billion Indians watch it. I doubt if cricket will make in-roads to other nations, ever!
November 2nd, 2007 at 3:50 pm
I think that hockey should stay the national religion. You dont see people going crazy all over the place for cricket.
November 11th, 2007 at 9:28 am
Lucas… Great name dude… But looks like you really haven’s spent time on any kind of a sports field, have you??? Really, blow me down if you have…
I don’t really want to dampen your spirits par-se, but looks like you are either misled… Or plain maniac/mad.
I really fail to understand what you want to mean… If you think that praising cricket is what you were born for, you are maybe made for it… I for one, have played the game alongside some of the best… Yeah, alongside and in the same teams as your famed Robin Uthappa has played for… (Even represented Karnataka State by the way for your kind information) And I know for a fact that you are talking crap.
If you mean to say that Cricketers are paid more just because they got the world cup and perform really well, I have some uncomfortable questions for you… Do you remember that we had won major tournaments loooong back right, how is it that you don’t remember the name of the captains of those teams??? Hos is it that they were never even given Rs.50000 for winning the World Cup or even 5,ooo for the Olympics???
Do you actually know that the match fee that was paid to each Indian player in the Asia Cup win totaling was Rs.5,650??? And match it, an umpire standing in a first class match gets paid 1,500 a match… If you think that Indian Hockey players are still wrong, please come and watch them practice day in and day out… Cricket is sold better… It is marketed better… That’s about it… Nothing else. The bitches in the IHF loot all the money and how do you expect someone to make a living out of playing hockey if they are paid like that. I am talking about the ‘Indian team’ here, not a school match. I was paid Rs.800 per match by my state for under-16 matches… Match it… Would you play hockey???
By the way, I would really like to see the Tirky v/s Yuvraj match… Due respect to Yuvraj who has put in the effort and one of the actual ’sportsman’ in the cricket team, Yuvraj Singh with his bat, by the way can never even ‘chase down’ Tirky… Leave alone hitting him… By the way, in a one on one Yuvi may win… But talk of Tirky against yur famed Sachin… Or how about Len Aiyappa v/s Yuvraj… You might just want to count how many times your Yuvi gets knocked out in a minute… Interesting stuff… Kick your own arse idiot. Stop writing shit and do something if you really can… Do you even know how many great players India is losing out on just because of the lack of money in Hockey??? Len is not playing for India just because he is unable to even scratch out a living with what the federation pays them. Go blast the Hockey federation’s system and maybe you would want a bullet in their head. That would be great service to India by the way. I’d really appreciate that. Not talking all gibbish when you don’t even know the game…
November 12th, 2007 at 12:42 am
@TheBestofAces
I just got one thing to say to you…please read the 6th comment…then, read the post again…if you still lack the mental capacity to comprehend subtle sarcasm, let me just say you are a nitwit, lacking in intellectual acuity.
TheBestoFaeces would have been a more apt name for you.