Bollywood, Cricket and the young India Team

India has in the recent past become witness to two of its characteristic elements overlapping- cricket and Bollywood. This blend would remind one of the IPL, with personalities from the film fraternity not only promoting, but also owning the franchises. Also consider that, the equation has even been reversed, with cricketers like Kapil Dev, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble all having made appearances in movies made in the past. A unique combine of the two Great Indian Passions was the movie Lagaan (2001). The movie remains one of our favourites, and that’s not just because we are cricket fans.

Harbhajan is a hummer fan! We are sure he spins it well!

The Indian cricket team. The Great Indian National Cricket Team. In particular, the team that frequently plays the limited overs. Or as the cricketing world knows it, since about the T20 World Cup 2007, India’s Young Brigade. MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla, Rohit Sharma, Ishant Sharma, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli; all match-winners over the last two years. They’re all guilty of some crimes. They do love their MacBooks, their BlackBerries, their Facebook accounts, and their rides (Dhoni’s 13 bikes & 2 SUVs, Yuvraj’s BMW, Bhajji’s Hummer).

Please do not think me as some sort of anti-hedonist who hates watching the players of her cricket team enjoy what is rightly their personal life. Sports-persons or not, we’re all human, and have equal liberty to demarcate our lives into professional and personal. Therefore, I do not have anything to do with Yuvraj’s cute profile pictures, Chawla’s frequent status updates or Virat’s recently changed relationship status (he’s hooked, last I checked). My problem, though, is with the cushioning that these luxurious lifestyles provide them with even while they’re on the cricket pitch.

The young brigade, champions once again?

I agree Lagaan is, at the end of the day, just a movie. A Bollywood movie, at that, and that by default dramatizes the portrayal of the events it shows. But the movie awakened the fan in me. It worried the fan. I’ve been following the current Indian team ever since it got together in late-2007. I’ve seen them go through highs like the semi-final versus Australia in the T20 World Cup ’07, and lows like the defeat in the Asia Cup final 2008. I’m attached to the team, and that connection goes beyond the regular fanaticism for a sports team. I want to see the players do as well as they can all the time, and that, because I’m concerned about what they have to lose if they don’t do well. Dhoni could get replaced as captain; Yuvraj could lose his number 4 position (he’s already lost his fielding position at point); Bhajji could be banned for his misbehavior; Suresh Raina could be dropped. India could go back to being the weak unit it looked like years ago.

It’d be a great loss.

We often hear cricketers talking about commitment; captains praise a young player for his commitment, fielding coaches call for more of it to improve performance; retirees are looked up to for the commitment they’d put into their game. But, who submits himself to cricket? Which young player would want to submit himself to the game, given the more lucrative options -such as the IPL and Freddie Flintoff’s concept, freelancing! Why would a 21 year old spinner want to wake up at 5 in the morning and travel 30 kilometers to get a hit at the nets, when he can easily pull some strings and play in the fame-machine called IPL?

Do not mistake my call for passion as a desire for fanaticism on the players’ part. I certainly understand that the players, who are already overdosed by the amount of international cricket they play, cannot feel for the sport to an extent where it seems to become an obsession for them. But like I said at the beginning of this piece, it isn’t about what they do off-field; for those 100 overs that they’re spending on the 22 yards, if they can remember everything that they as players, as a team, and as ambassadors of a cricket-crazy nation, stand to lose , then I see no team that can possibly overcome the Indian team. The Indian cricket team. The Great Indian National Cricket Team.