Lurker Posted March 26, 2007 Share Posted March 26, 2007 A question often floated in cricket fraternity is, "Why doesnt India produce fast bowlers". I am convinced now that a similar question, specially for cricket fans, should be, "Why doesnt India produce half-decent cricket media?". It has been less than 100 hours since Indian team tamely surrendered in Carribean. Amidst the palpable gloom that seems to have descended upon the 2nd most populous country in the world and certainly most passionate cricketwise, one can see articles coming from all and sundry. What is the common denominator somehow in these articles is the role of Indian fan. Newsmagazine, websites, tv experts can be seen suggesting, "Unrealistic Expectations by Indian fans", "Pressure of billion people", "This shall be better for cricket ultimately", "Will put things in perspective" etc etc. And every time I hear those words my response is short and sweet - Eff Off. Unrealistic expectation seems to be the flavour of the month right now. But may I ask what unrealistic expectation did the Indian fan delude himself with? - Is it unrealistic to expect your team to make it to the top 8 knockout round when there are ONLY 8 major countries to start with(Ind-Pak-SL-NZ-Aus-SAF-WI-Eng)? - Is it unrealistic to expect India to come atleast 2nd in a group where it has played more Test and One day cricket than all of the other teams put together? - Is it unrealistic to expect arguably the greatest ODI batsman,SRT, to score more than 7 runs in the games that mattered the most? - Is it unrealistic to expect your lead spinner(and according to some the main bowler for India in Windies condition),Bhajji, to come back with atleast one frigging wicket? - Is it unrealistic to expect your main slogger, Dhoni, to atleast open his account in two games that ultimately cost us the next ground. and so on... The answer to all of that should be a resounding NO. Yes I can understand the charge of "unrealistic expectation" coming if Indian fans were pissed off even if Indian team came runner-up but this ridiculous, two-bit cowardly bowing out is hardly that should be put at the door of an Indian fan. The next argument I hear is "Pressure of Billion people". I have never quite understood this. If anything I would say the pressure today on Indian fans is huge as well. Just check out how many fans die during a cricket game thanks to heart attack or high blood pressure. When was the last time you heard an Indian cricket player fall sick due to an elevated blood pressure? How come an Australia or South African fan never feels pressure? Well thats they because they freaking win! South Africa(post 1992) has won lot many games that India has done in its history. If India, Australia, South Africa play 10 games each I think its fair to say Australia shall win 9-10, South Africa 8-9 & India possibly 4-5. So guess on whose fans pressure shall be more. As for pressure on the cricket field, as Keith Miller once famously said is "Pressure is when you have two Messerschmidts(German fighter bomber) up your arse..cricket is not pressure its fun". And of course then there is that whole, "its good for cricket, put things into perspective" and all that crap. How is this good for cricket? Are these media/experts telling us that had an Indian team fought tooth and nail and proceeded to 2nd round this World Cup would have become less exciting? I completely hate this act of trying to portray Indian fan as a fanatic, pressure creating entity that only exists in extremes - greatly happy or greatly dissatisfied. In my opinion an average Indian fan knows as much about cricket history, if not more, than cricket fan around the world. There is a much better chance of someone in India knowing about Damien Fleming than in Australia about Venkatesh Prasad. Why only the other day I was having this cricket discussion with an Australia colleague and he was surprised when I mentioned Mike Veletta in 1987 WC. Upon digging further it was fairly apparent that he didnt know much about who kept wickets for India(or Pakistan or Windies) in 1987. Without trying to put Indian fan on pedestal I must say Indian knowledge is second to none. I sometimes wonder if cricket structure in India today is like our political system. Just as we have a bunch of (mostly) stupid misters running Government, similarly we have BCCI. And just as we have corrupt and inept MP/MLA's, we also have completely inept cricketers. Then of course there is media, the watchdogs, who should be picking onto why the richest cricket with all latest facilities keeps producing fat slobs in outfields. That is if they find time out of figuring out if Aishwarya is manglik. xxxx Link to comment
King Posted March 26, 2007 Share Posted March 26, 2007 Re: Get off the back of Indian cricket fan!! Good stuff Lurker, the article is just on the money. I've only seen excuses and more excuses for the losses. You make a lot of valid points. This should be on our front page as an article. Link to comment
gloryof83 Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 Re: Get off the back of Indian cricket fan!! The problem does not lie with the fans, it is the administrators (BCCI) all they are interested is to make money. We are the richest cricket body in the world but we have the worst infrastructure compared to other cricket playing nations. Improve that and have a nice structured domestic comp then we will really be a number 1 in rankings not in income. Link to comment
Guest BossBhai Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 Re: Get off the back of Indian cricket fan!! -- Removed on request of the user -- Link to comment
Bumper Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 Re: Get off the back of Indian cricket fan!! Great post Lurker. You bring up some very valid points. Our cricketers could have blamed the fans & pressure in 2003, when they played the mighty Aussies in the finals, but performance in this world cup was too miserable to make any excuse sound reasonable. Link to comment
cricajar Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 Re: Get off the back of Indian cricket fan!! I couldn't agree with you more mate! You konw what I hate? Is everyone saying this bull shit baout how its good for "cricket" for the "world" that India lost. HOw the fcuk is it good that india lost? There are so many hardworking people in our great country who work tirelessly just to make ends meet...you know what they hold on to? Cricket, it is bigger than life and thats not neccesarily a bad thing...i'm not saying that fanatasicm is right or that one should burn effiges etc., but it is a big deal...and its not good that india crashed out, not for india not for cricket. We are a good team that when firing and really put on a good show. Now I hope all these asses, will enjoy Ireland being walloped by real teams. Link to comment
gloryof83 Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 Re: Get off the back of Indian cricket fan!! It is good in one sense. Its a realty check, its a kick up the bum we needed. This team has been complacent for atleaset the last 2 years. Most of our players belive in their own media hype or they have made too much money and forget what got them there in the fist place (the hard yards). In any other country Sehwag would have been dropped long ago, if he was any good he would have proved himself in the domestic comp and come back. Since the wright-ganguly era, we have become more unfit, lathargic & sloppy. For the BCCI its not about the game, its about making money that has to change. Link to comment
Guest BossBhai Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 Re: Get off the back of Indian cricket fan!! -- Removed on request of the user -- Link to comment
jf1gp_1 Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 Re: Get off the back of Indian cricket fan!! I fail to understand why you all are so disappointed. look at the bright side we qualified for WC without playing qualifiers. Bigger sporting nations like USA, China, Russia failed to even qualify. Link to comment
cricajar Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 Re: Get off the back of Indian cricket fan!! I fail to understand why you all are so disappointed. look at the bright side we qualified for WC without playing qualifiers. Bigger sporting nations like USA' date=' China, Russia failed to even qualify.[/quote'] Are you retarded? What does USA, China and Russia have to do with teh CRICKET WC? The game is barely known to anyone in those countries, how in god's name will they qualify for teh cricket wc! Jesus Christ Come on man, if your going to make an argument at least make an intelligent one. Link to comment
Cricketics Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 Re: Get off the back of Indian cricket fan!! I fail to understand why you all are so disappointed. look at the bright side we qualified for WC without playing qualifiers. Bigger sporting nations like USA' date=' China, Russia failed to even qualify.[/quote'] well thats not the bright side.. minor sporting nations like Bangladesh also qualified for wc... its not that we were given a task to qualify for world cup, we were alredy in. though agree with people who say that, some of Indian public are over reacting by burning effigies and stuf.. Link to comment
vroomfondel Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 Re: Get off the back of Indian cricket fan!! I fail to understand why you all are so disappointed. look at the bright side we qualified for WC without playing qualifiers. Bigger sporting nations like USA' date=' China, Russia failed to even qualify.[/quote'] Are you retarded? do you not see sarcasm when it hits you in the face? Link to comment
jf1gp_1 Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 Re: Get off the back of Indian cricket fan!! Cricketics / cricajar you guys need to lighten up a bit. Link to comment
yoda Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 Re: Get off the back of Indian cricket fan!! I fail to understand why you all are so disappointed. look at the bright side we qualified for WC without playing qualifiers. Bigger sporting nations like USA' date=' China, Russia failed to even qualify.[/quote'] Are you retarded? What does USA, China and Russia have to do with teh CRICKET WC? The game is barely known to anyone in those countries, how in god's name will they qualify for teh cricket wc! Jesus Christ Come on man, if your going to make an argument at least make an intelligent one. Nice intelligent response. :lmao: Link to comment
Chandan Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 Re: Get off the back of Indian cricket fan!! A question often floated in cricket fraternity is, "Why doesnt India produce fast bowlers". I am convinced now that a similar question, specially for cricket fans, should be, "Why doesnt India produce half-decent cricket media?". It has been less than 100 hours since Indian team tamely surrendered in Carribean. Amidst the palpable gloom that seems to have descended upon the 2nd most populous country in the world and certainly most passionate cricketwise, one can see articles coming from all and sundry. What is the common denominator somehow in these articles is the role of Indian fan. Newsmagazine, websites, tv experts can be seen suggesting, "Unrealistic Expectations by Indian fans", "Pressure of billion people", "This shall be better for cricket ultimately", "Will put things in perspective" etc etc. And every time I hear those words my response is short and sweet - Eff Off. Unrealistic expectation seems to be the flavour of the month right now. But may I ask what unrealistic expectation did the Indian fan delude himself with? - Is it unrealistic to expect your team to make it to the top 8 knockout round when there are ONLY 8 major countries to start with(Ind-Pak-SL-NZ-Aus-SAF-WI-Eng)? - Is it unrealistic to expect India to come atleast 2nd in a group where it has played more Test and One day cricket than all of the other teams put together? - Is it unrealistic to expect arguably the greatest ODI batsman,SRT, to score more than 7 runs in the games that mattered the most? - Is it unrealistic to expect your lead spinner(and according to some the main bowler for India in Windies condition),Bhajji, to come back with atleast one frigging wicket? - Is it unrealistic to expect your main slogger, Dhoni, to atleast open his account in two games that ultimately cost us the next ground. and so on... The answer to all of that should be a resounding NO. Yes I can understand the charge of "unrealistic expectation" coming if Indian fans were pissed off even if Indian team came runner-up but this ridiculous, two-bit cowardly bowing out is hardly that should be put at the door of an Indian fan. The next argument I hear is "Pressure of Billion people". I have never quite understood this. If anything I would say the pressure today on Indian fans is huge as well. Just check out how many fans die during a cricket game thanks to heart attack or high blood pressure. When was the last time you heard an Indian cricket player fall sick due to an elevated blood pressure? How come an Australia or South African fan never feels pressure? Well thats they because they freaking win! South Africa(post 1992) has won lot many games that India has done in its history. If India, Australia, South Africa play 10 games each I think its fair to say Australia shall win 9-10, South Africa 8-9 & India possibly 4-5. So guess on whose fans pressure shall be more. As for pressure on the cricket field, as Keith Miller once famously said is "Pressure is when you have two Messerschmidts(German fighter bomber) up your arse..cricket is not pressure its fun". And of course then there is that whole, "its good for cricket, put things into perspective" and all that crap. How is this good for cricket? Are these media/experts telling us that had an Indian team fought tooth and nail and proceeded to 2nd round this World Cup would have become less exciting? I completely hate this act of trying to portray Indian fan as a fanatic, pressure creating entity that only exists in extremes - greatly happy or greatly dissatisfied. In my opinion an average Indian fan knows as much about cricket history, if not more, than cricket fan around the world. There is a much better chance of someone in India knowing about Damien Fleming than in Australia about Venkatesh Prasad. Why only the other day I was having this cricket discussion with an Australia colleague and he was surprised when I mentioned Mike Veletta in 1987 WC. Upon digging further it was fairly apparent that he didnt know much about who kept wickets for India(or Pakistan or Windies) in 1987. Without trying to put Indian fan on pedestal I must say Indian knowledge is second to none. I sometimes wonder if cricket structure in India today is like our political system. Just as we have a bunch of (mostly) stupid misters running Government, similarly we have BCCI. And just as we have corrupt and inept MP/MLA's, we also have completely inept cricketers. Then of course there is media, the watchdogs, who should be picking onto why the richest cricket with all latest facilities keeps producing fat slobs in outfields. That is if they find time out of figuring out if Aishwarya is manglik. xxxx Agree with most of your points Lurker. Sometimes I wonder if this burning effigies thing is also stage managed by the TV news-channels looking for sensationalism!! Link to comment
Chandan Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 Re: Get off the back of Indian cricket fan!! And of course then there is that whole, "its good for cricket, put things into perspective" and all that crap. How is this good for cricket? Are these media/experts telling us that had an Indian team fought tooth and nail and proceeded to 2nd round this World Cup would have become less exciting? No. Not in that way. But look at it from a different angle. Perhaps it is good that India lost. The Board of Control for Cricket in India, with its huge resources, its unbearable hubris and total disregard for the paying spectator in India, has been put in place. The basics is not such a bad place to go back to. The chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar has said that there is no talent in India. Who is responsible for that? The cry for the coach's head, the captain's head, the best players' heads are so strident, the odd cry for the Board officials' heads goes unheard. If the disgrace leads to soul-searching, something can still be salvaged. Let us restore the importance of domestic cricket. University cricket, which provided generations of players in the past, means nothing today. This nursery has dried up for want of nourishment. The signs were apparent on the West Indies trip a year ago when we lost the series 1-4. But we refused to see it, blinded as we were by the home victories over Sri Lanka. The ordinary fan may be blinded, but the administrators, the coach and the so-called think tank? The media believed their own hype, hence their reaction. We were fooled, and we demand an explanation. Before the tournament began, Bishan Bedi had said, "I don't know which will be worse - India winning the tournament or not winning it." Winning would have been great for the team, but bad for cricket; losing would have been good for cricket, but bad for the team. It will take a few months before the effigy-burners fully understand the wisdom of that point of view. This doesn't sound that bad! Only question is, are we ready to do the soul-searching honestly?! Link to comment
beetle Posted April 2, 2007 Share Posted April 2, 2007 Re: Get off the back of Indian cricket fan!! The Indian media and most Indian fans are morons at best and fanatic barbarians at worst! Link to comment
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