Cricket, Cricket, Cricket!!!
I'm still bewildered why India and Indians are so ridiculously and emotionally attached to the game. I am not a die-hard anti-cricket fan. But, with such an explicit showcase of politics and play in the game, why should we still watch and harbour cricket as THE GAME?
News had been flowing in saying that coach Greg Chappell had to be changed. - Well, if his term ends, so be it. But, by changing the coach will the game improve - of course not. It is not like American Soccer where coach calls the game while it is on. It is the eleven players of the team who make / break the game.
A few things that India can do to improve the quality of cricket .....
1. Team selection should be by performance - strictly.
2. Captain should be selected after the team is selected.
3. Out of every three matches recently played, if the player has not performed well in more than one game, remove him from the top 11.
4. If the team does not win, do not give compensation to the players.
5. Do not allow players to sign contracts with advertisers and other commercial interest business if the player is not part of the top eleven.
6. When touring overseas, allow only the players and not their family to go abroad.
7. Get a second eleven ready and keep shuffling the players if they do not perform. - Let us not worry about the experience of the top eleven - what did we achieve in this World cup with experienced players like sachin, sourav, dravid and kumble?
Showing posts with label cricket. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cricket. Show all posts
Cricket is a religion
Over the past few days, the Indian news channels have shown their inability to analyse and do justification to their purpose of existence. It is understandable that the billions of people are anxious about the results of each and every world cup cricket match. But, does that mean that the other legitimate news have to take a step back?
All 24x7, the news channels are engaged only in talking about cricket. If want to hear the news in the morning / the evening, it is only cricket!!! Why do we want to give importance to something that is only a game - how much does it affect a commoner? Does the win / loss of a cricket match do anything to affect the daily lifestyle of the commoner? Most of us, Indians, are addicted to cricket - well, addictions is not bad - but addictions to the level that cricket is considered a religion, an emotional one is bad - after all, can we have hope on something as a religion when we see things like India losing to Bangladesh?
All the Indian news channels tend to concentrate all their prime broadcasting time on cricket. Why do we want to give importance to the game? - After all, who is the winner - it is BCCI and the cricket team. It is they who rake in all the money from advertisements and broadcasting and the cricketers who get houses from governments and sops for each and every part of their lifestyle. The Indian news channels have understood the weakness of the common Indian towards cricket and have started to exploit it. Why can't Indian news channels stop this exploitation and start doing proper journalism?
All 24x7, the news channels are engaged only in talking about cricket. If want to hear the news in the morning / the evening, it is only cricket!!! Why do we want to give importance to something that is only a game - how much does it affect a commoner? Does the win / loss of a cricket match do anything to affect the daily lifestyle of the commoner? Most of us, Indians, are addicted to cricket - well, addictions is not bad - but addictions to the level that cricket is considered a religion, an emotional one is bad - after all, can we have hope on something as a religion when we see things like India losing to Bangladesh?
All the Indian news channels tend to concentrate all their prime broadcasting time on cricket. Why do we want to give importance to the game? - After all, who is the winner - it is BCCI and the cricket team. It is they who rake in all the money from advertisements and broadcasting and the cricketers who get houses from governments and sops for each and every part of their lifestyle. The Indian news channels have understood the weakness of the common Indian towards cricket and have started to exploit it. Why can't Indian news channels stop this exploitation and start doing proper journalism?
No more Cricket!!!
It was a nice sunny afternoon when my friend Vinod reminded me of the 3rd ODI between India & South Africa. It was overwhelming to see the match at a state when South Africa were 57/4 at 16 overs and then went to 76/6 in another four overs. Both of us, possibly all of the Indian cricket fans, were hoping for a good vengeance from the Indian Side to the Proteas after India's last defeat with just scoring only 91 on the scoreboard.
Once again the team in Blue stumbled and fumbled, not able to contain the tail-enders - allowing Justin Kemp to score his first ODI century, facilitating a new world record for the 8th wicket in ODIs, what else do you want - and finally making way for the SAs to reach 274/7 at the end of 50 overs.
Seeing the match, it was full of frustration for me, as I could see that the players were just displaying their presence in the field rather than the drive to contain the match and turn the conditions favourable towards India. Full toss balls in the slog overs, short pitch balls, wides, no balls, etc. all making certain that the bowling department was fully off track. Also, the bowlers seemed to go down, with batsmen swinging to the tunes to fours and sixes. None of the bowlers were able to concentrate and bowl good length, if not yorkers and variant styles at the last minute.
Inspite of a population of a billion people, and cricket being more than a cult or a religion to most of the people, I still doubt what stops India to have great players and produce winning results.
One strategy to make certain that an earthquake is being felt by the dons in cricket is :
1. Boycott seeing matches at the stadiums.
2. Stop sponsoring matches.
3. Don't take the broadcasting rights.
4. Don't mention about Indian cricket on sites and papers.
Basically, don't give the iconic status to cricket - see the match only if India wins the matches / the series. Are we Indians fools to see such a match and a match where we keep losing? - No, I'm not going to watch cricket from now. When companies talk about performance for the paltry pay they pay, why not the BCCI also talk about performance and results when they pay so much for each match?
Note: I'm writing this blog during the match break - I still don't know the results of the match - but still I don't have good faith that India might do some miracles to win the match!!!
Once again the team in Blue stumbled and fumbled, not able to contain the tail-enders - allowing Justin Kemp to score his first ODI century, facilitating a new world record for the 8th wicket in ODIs, what else do you want - and finally making way for the SAs to reach 274/7 at the end of 50 overs.
Seeing the match, it was full of frustration for me, as I could see that the players were just displaying their presence in the field rather than the drive to contain the match and turn the conditions favourable towards India. Full toss balls in the slog overs, short pitch balls, wides, no balls, etc. all making certain that the bowling department was fully off track. Also, the bowlers seemed to go down, with batsmen swinging to the tunes to fours and sixes. None of the bowlers were able to concentrate and bowl good length, if not yorkers and variant styles at the last minute.
Inspite of a population of a billion people, and cricket being more than a cult or a religion to most of the people, I still doubt what stops India to have great players and produce winning results.
One strategy to make certain that an earthquake is being felt by the dons in cricket is :
1. Boycott seeing matches at the stadiums.
2. Stop sponsoring matches.
3. Don't take the broadcasting rights.
4. Don't mention about Indian cricket on sites and papers.
Basically, don't give the iconic status to cricket - see the match only if India wins the matches / the series. Are we Indians fools to see such a match and a match where we keep losing? - No, I'm not going to watch cricket from now. When companies talk about performance for the paltry pay they pay, why not the BCCI also talk about performance and results when they pay so much for each match?
Note: I'm writing this blog during the match break - I still don't know the results of the match - but still I don't have good faith that India might do some miracles to win the match!!!
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