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!!!
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