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Greg vs The Guys: a tragicomedy

DesiChap

By DesiChap
in Cricket Talk

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DesiChap

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Greg vs The Guys: a tragicomedy Nothing validates Nietzsche's idea of eternal recurrence as convincingly as do the crises in Indian cricket, writes Nirmal Shekar Forget the World Cup in the Caribbean. Forget, too, the evergreen Sanath Jayasuriya's marvellous heroics with the bat and the ball. Pay no attention to the celebration of the great Glenn McGrath's final hurrah. Say goodbye to Guyana and Antigua and quickly turn your attention to our own Mumbai, a teeming city where nine-tenths of life is an argument. For, Indian cricket's intriguing, never-ending game within the game has begun once again. And the stirring, unmissable climactic scenes of the Blame Game are scheduled to be enacted in India's commercial capital on Friday and Saturday. Nothing validates Friedrich Nietzsche's idea of Eternal Recurrence as convincingly as do the crises in Indian cricket. In the context of the nation's sporting religion, the more things change the more they remain the same. "Life is but a dream whose shapes return," wrote T.S. Eliot in The Waste Land. Substitute `nightmare' for dream and you might get an idea of what it is like in Indian cricket. But then, who cares in what shapes these nightmares return? After all, it is another round of riveting entertainment for a cricketing public still mourning the premature departure of Rahul Dravid's men from the World Cup. Washing dirty linen A complaisant audience will be treated to the latest episode of the long-running let's-smear-each-other-in-public tragicomedy. And this will be screened at convenient times, during daylight and early evening hours ? you don't have to keep awake through the night to watch the drama and then land up slightly disoriented and bleary eyed at work the next day. Of course, we must thank Indian cricket for such small mercies. One must admit that the sneak previews have been awe-inspiring. If they are anything to go by, we can look forward to seat-edge thrills on Friday and Saturday. Then again, for all the seeming sameness, there is indeed a touch of variety these days. In the old days, the villains used to be men living across the border from us. These days, the bad guys happen to carry Australian passports. Or, are they Indian passports? Are the bad guys home-grown ones? We are not even sure at this point. Not bad at all _ cricket is certainly doing better than Bollywood and Kollywood movies when it comes to plotlines. So, welcome, then, to Greg versus The Guys, senior guys I might add. Forget a possible Australia-South Africa face-off on April 28. This ? what is going to be played in Mumbai ? is the mother of all finals. And now, to the big question: who is right and who is wrong? Who are the heroes and who are the villains? It is no surprise, of course, that all these questions come up only when the team fails ? which, these days, is often enough. Collective failure But the truth is, it is a collective failure ? collective not merely in the sense of the coach and the players put together but in a sense that encompasses everything, even things that go beyond the sport in question. For, it is a systemic malady. Poorly engineered leaky systems will always throw up situations in which such nightmarish scenarios arise time and again. In a stimulating book The Lucifer Effect: How Good People Turn Evil, Philip Zimbardo, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Stanford University, comes up with the argument that evil is not only about those who appear to cause it but, more importantly, it is about the situations and systems that let it flourish. As much is true of all the stink in Indian cricket. For, it is not merely about individuals, their behaviour and attitudes; it is about the overall system that makes room for such behaviour and attitudes. Surely, we can point a finger at Greg Chappell and say that the Aussie coach never thought it a virtue to keep his mouth shut, especially in the company of men and women whose job it is to make public such pearls of wisdom as may have been on offer. After all, over the last two years, Greg Chappell-interviews have been as much a staple in newspapers and television channels as are weather reports. But the problem does go beyond Chappell's loquaciousness. Surely, we can point a finger at some senior players for wanting to `own' their places in the Indian team, for living on past glory and believing that their celebrity alone would help them stay in the side forever. But, again, the problem goes beyond such selfish attitudes. Clearer vision To get to the root of the problem needs not only perseverance but also the willingness to cast away the old foggy spectacles through which we have come to view Indian cricket and its crises. It calls for vision in a business where visionaries are in short supply. It is because of this, it is because a massive system-overhaul ? something that shakes up the greedy, complacent and largely inefficient administration for a start ? does not seem likely that I believe whatever comes out of the BCCI meetings on Friday and Saturday will make no big difference to the long term health of Indian cricket. And life ? and cricket ? will go on as ever in this country. For, this is one product that has never witnessed any consumer resistance in India. Whatever the quality, tens of millions are ready to lap it all up.

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apocalypse Newbie

apocalypse

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Re: Greg vs The Guys: a tragicomedy what about this http://worldcup.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1853133.cms

As if the World Cup disaster wasn't bad enough, the seniors in Team India have to cope with the humiliation and attitude and commitment barbs that coach Greg Chappell has allegedly been throwing at them. But they have had enough. As the storm of rage continues to blow across the country, some of the cricketers decided to break their dignified silence and spoke to TOI . " Paani sar se ooncha ho gaya hai ( Chappell has taken things a bit too far to keep quiet )." "Tell me, the world has gone on talking about all this (our defeat and exit) but has anybody spared a thought for us? Did they try to find out what we have been going through?" a shaken Sachin Tendulkar asked TOI . "I am shattered beyond words and I feel helpless. I've never felt so bad in my entire career." he added. "No matter how many Tests or one-day series you win, nothing else even comes close to a World Cup triumph. The World Cup was our passion, our collective goal, our dream and that has been shattered. And we all are terribly disappointed over it. "Again, it's not that we are defending ourselves. We do realise that we played badly and, as a team, we take full responsibility for that. But what hurt us most is if the coach has questioned our attitude. "I've given my heart and my soul for 17 years. No coach had mentioned even in passing that my attitude was not correct. Cricket has been my life for all these years and will always be," Tendulkar said. Some of the seniors are, in fact, so upset with the personal attacks that they are hoping to meet BCCI president Sharad Pawar on April 5 to present their side of the story. BCCI has already called for a high-powered review meeting on April 6 and 7 to chart out the future course of action for Indian cricket. The meeting will be attended by BCCI's office-bearers and seven former captains, including Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri and S Venkatraghavan. Before that, captain Rahul Dravid, chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar, coach Chappell and manager on the West Indies tour, Sanjay Jagdale, will meet the Board officials to explain the team's performance. The senior players want to meet Pawar before that.
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Guest dada_rocks

Guest dada_rocks

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Re: Greg vs The Guys: a tragicomedy

Yep hard to question Sachin's attitude commitment ! Wright also said the same thing..that Sach is the most comitted individual he has ever met.
:wtg: :wtg:
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