Why is Cricket not to be blamed for the downfall of other sports in India?

Cricket vs Other Sports?? Certainly NOT!!

There was a time when Cricket was the only sports that mattered to all the sports fanatics in India. India’s historical triumph in 1983 meant that Cricket caught the imaginations of the millions around the country and since then there was no looking back. An utter domination in popularity during the mid-90s and the early part of the 21st century meant all other sports took a back-seat. An Indian Cricket match would mean empty roads, hustle-free railway stations and lonely metros. In short, the Indians now believed Cricket was the one of the best source of attaining self-esteem and triggering national pride.

Other sports, however, went through a rather tough patch during this very time and India’s credentials in Hockey, Football and some other sports took a some-what downward curve. Thankfully, though , the latter half of this decade saw Indians gradually realizing the importance of other sports and it is now rather heartening to see how people of different parts of India are organizing campaigns , meets etc in order to give back the lost time to the under-priveleged sports in India. Its better late than never and I have no doubt that this sudden awakening will certainly help the cause of Indian Sports as a whole.

However, this renaissance in Indian sports, also triggered a very wrong perception among some, if not many, sports lovers in India. An Anti-Cricket feeling. A feeling that it was Cricket who deprived the other sports from their own world of prosperity. Suddenly we could find people demonstrating how boring a game cricket is and how it is a waste of time and why India’s triumph in the 2011 World Cup is not such a big deal. Recently there was this wondeful proposal of a Basketball Premier League in one of the SportsKeeda fan pages in Facebook. While, it was quite rejuvinating to see so many enthusiastic well-wishers and likes for the proposal, but, it was equally disturbing to see how many of the fans cursed and abused the Indian Premier League in return. Now, this is where I guess lies the problem.

Why on earth would you blame cricket for the downfall of other sports? As if Cricket officials and players were the ones who conducted some evil witchcraft and wizardry to demolish other sports in India. Or they plotted out some sort of notorious master-plan, so that people in India do not watch anything other than Cricket. It is in-fact quite ridiculous to say the least.

One must realize that It was no alien who made this game popular here in the first place. It was THE very people of India who loved the game and made it what it is today . So much so that they overlooked the other things happening in the world of Sports. Then why is this hypocritical attitude?

“Others Sports couldn’t prosper because of Cricket” is like saying I failed in my class coz the other boy topped in the examination. But the matter of fact is that no matter how much the other boy scores, you still need to cross the pass mark in order to clear. Its like snatching someone down from the perch so that the other could climb up.

Is Cricket responsible for the poor infra-structure of other sports? Or they were the ones who injected the corrupted people in the boards and committees of their respective sports? Certainly NOT!!! How do you explain that Cricket had something to do with all the wrong doings of certain personalities or the lack of fore-sight of the concerned people who were supposed to improve the state of affairs of other sports? The fact that Cricket gained popularity does not mean that the authorities would ignore other quality sports. Its the system that has to be blamed, rather than making Cricket the scape-goat of all this.

The only reason why cricket developed the way they did is because they helped themselves. They innovated, they performed and they showed the results, which attracted so many millions of us. I do not understand what is the problem in hosting a cash-rich IPL? Certainly cricket introduced a way in which they could prosper both in cricketing terms as well as in financial terms. Simply, they found out a way not to degrade other sports but to help the cause of their own game.

I wonder what were the infrastructural and financial differences during the early 60s and 70s, between Cricket in India and Other sports in India. I am quite sure that at that point of time both of them stood at more or less the similar point. Today BCCI has the highest income of any national cricket board. Its income has increased manifold in 2007-08 and crossed Rs 1000.41 crore, as compared to Rs 651.81 crore in 2006-07, leading to a surplus of Rs 303.15 crore. However, there was also a time when Lata Mangeskar had to host a fund-raising concert in order to facilitate a nominal reward for the Indian World Cup winning team in 1983. Invariably then , cricket did something different during this period, which the others couldn’t. Slowly but Steadily within years they established themselves as the THE big sports in India. And i simply do not seem to find what is wrong in it.

While I firmly believe that every sports in India must grow and prosper, but that is least wanted in the expense of triggering hatred and anger over Cricket. We are Indians and we must be equally proud of what Indians acheive in the cricket field or in any other sports.

Other sports must help themselves like cricket did and it is only then India can realize their dream of being a Sports Heavyweight. Cursing cricket is not the solution. On the contrary, it is an inspiration for other sports to follow in the footsteps of Cricket and discover their glory days.