Glamour, money draw youngsters to cricket

[Guest Hiten.]

Indian cricket has changed forever. The money is huge, sponsors are all over, cricketers are celluloid demi-gods and fans more fanatic than ever. As the media circus follows it all, it is the BCCI that's laughing all the way to the bank. But what's changed the most is why cricket is played today. "I went recently to interview youngsters and ask them why they play and one of the people said it was for fame and fortune. He loved to play cricket but the end goal was different," says senior cricket journalist Sharda Ugra. Youngsters with kit bags bigger then them today land up at cricket grounds with loads of expectations. The mindset of their parents has also changed. Today, they bring their kids to the ground expecting a success story overnight. "Kids these days are in lot of hurry and it will never happen because success takes its own time. It takes 6-10 years to bring up the kid and make a child a cricketer," says Yuvraj Singh's father Yograj Singh. Hype is the buzzword and it follows our cricket stars everywhere they go. What they do off the field is seen just as much as their effort on the field. Kids today are often being drawn more by the glamour than love for the game. "I think they are looking on the wrong side of the coin. They should probably concentrate more on bettering their games and working on the fitness levels, so that they can spend a lot of time on this field or this industry, or any industry," says cricketer Sanjay Bangar. Young cricketers like Subhash Dixit and Manish Mishra playing while still teenagers, face a lot of pressure - the games themselves, the stress of selection and even dealing with loss of form. But key people like coaches don't step in and help. In fact money and influence seem to play huge role in coaching today. "Coaching has become an industry. I mean that's the kind of coaches you don't want for some one who is starting out young because his whole orientation is totally different," says Sharda. Scratching beneath the surface one finds a faulty selection system. Blatant favoritism and regional rivalries are known to influence team selection. The system is just not transparent or answerable to anyone, least of all to the cricketers who's careers depend on these boardroom decisions. "At the junior level it’s maximum and they need to change that from bottom up not from the top to bottom where they are trying to do that," says Sharda. The biggest responsibility is with the BCCI, which needs to create a cricket system in which everyone who plays the game at every level has a security net to fall back on. And then maybe, the final score could look a lot better. ===== Its quite true that BCCI has not used up its monetary properly (AS OF YET) to improve cricketing standards in India. Grounds are still cheesy looking, facilities for crowd has not improved, moreover the standards of indian ranji competition lies in the same place as when Sharad Pawar joined BCCI (who promised to improve our national competitions). Having too much money can be a problem too eh

[Anakin]

If money draws youngsters to cricket I say we're doomed