Woes of an erstwhile cricket lover

Indian Paisa League?

RETIRED HURT

The biggest reality show that opens with taglines like “MANORANJAN KA BAAP” & “8 teams, no players, only warriors” certainly drops no hint of positivism. There is a tug of war, the difference lying in the fact that there are more than two sides in this melodramatic bonanza of festivity, glamour quotients and indefinite cash flows bears the name The Indian Premiere League.

I used to be a die hard cricket fan; but certain issues have forced me to think (and act) otherwise. It might be difficult for you (dear reader) to understand, but take it this way; like someone who has seen how a chicken is slain before it is served to him in a restaurant, quits non-vegetarian food or some aristocrat becomes ascetic after seeing the bitterness of life. They seem impractical. But some aspect of these incidents must have moved the persons concerned in some way. This is mine.

Cricket has always been over Hockey (remember, our National Sport??), in popularity, scope and craze. There have been debates on it and I’m not interested in resolving this age-long dispute. Let’s come to our hunger satiator – The Indian Premiere League has been very successfully bringing in new talents- Ashok Dinda, Manpreet Gony, Poonam Pandey …er…you know more about her than I do. ( Google’s there for the rest )

Some report showed me a numerical figure of the total bidding of some season: USD 400 million…Believe me, my eyes assumed the biggest diameter they could; not because of the amount, but because of the cause this amount was being spent on. Suddenly, I had a scene to witness; I saw a cousin erase his report card marks to substitute new figures to please his parents; that was when I realized: $400mn was just an official figure. I had gooseflesh. For a developing economy that has just combated one of the worst inflations ever, where 20% of the population is below the poverty line, literacy rate is forged to show faces to UN, technology and economy is drowned beyond neck in World Bank’s loan, climatic deterioration is at it’s peak, we certainly don’t have anything better to do than watch the conglomeration of the Bollywood and Cricket come together and lavishly spend all the currency of the world for their business veiled as entertainment. And our esteemed people in power back it up with all support they have, naming it as critical terms like REVENUE. A country that is still in its rudimentary stages of development of fundamental needs, can afford to think about luxury, comfort and entertainment is astounding!

Concepts like 'player auction' has turned Cricket into Tamasha

Almost all the biggies in the corporate world have an IPL team in the list of their assets (as if their existing empire was too small). Business tycoons make IPL a venue to convert their black money into white. Like a middle class person can say with pride that he owns a land as an asset, the corporate giants will now have to own an IPL team to upgrade their status!!! So much so that the poor ones, if suffer a loss, have to make adjustments in their empire (like we have budgetary cuts when we buy a new gadget). Business motives, if not profit lure puts in enormous pressure on them. Resultantly the team is almost in a pressure cooker while playing (“Oh God, I’m not gonna be paid the X crores I was supposed to be”) Performance ki toh Watt lag gayi hogi, I’m sure Munna Bhai would have said this!!!

Someone make me understand why is the lure of money above the love for one’s own country? I mean players being auctioned is the most shameful thing to witness…As if they were slaves being sold in Arabian market …Sounds cheap…and crap! The co-ordination of the team as a country is left behind the money shower and individual recognition. Victory is the goal; and the word SPORTSMANSHIP is left for the dictionary readers only.

Chalo, you can make black money white, defend all allegations: but I wanna know what’s there to hear about the semi-clad chics at the boundary and someone please explain, what and how do they cheer???? Their very presence is a mere distraction. Again there are lavish post IPL parties (thankfully the idea has been rejected from this IPL season) that add to the number of unnecessary things that are hateful about a cricket match.

All this happened because people have blocked their minds with unattainable dreams, without having a glimpse of the reality which desperately needs a change for better with our help and sensible contribution! Even if you show globalization as a goal put in the money for development of the people (besides the development of your bank balances)! Before thinking about International performances, care a damn about the national team, that needs to come out of the WC glory it is basking in, for betterment of their own and for us to take more pride in them. Cricket needs performance of players and support from audience. Where comes business in between? I guess they are hell bent on making money out of everything. When they haven’t left mothers (Maa-exchange) and brides (Rakhi, and Ratan ka swayamvar; and Rahul Dulhaniya Le jaaenge), they must have thought why spare cricket? Cricket needs enthusiasm, and most importantly isolation from such hookers!