India’s obsession with cricket hurting itself

India’s sporting history is a huge scar on its rich assortment of culture, heritage and literati. It is littered with years of agony and despair with some rare moments of brilliance. From Milkha Singh’s photo finish in the 1960 Rome Olympics to Narain Karthikeyan’s 4^th place finish (out of 6 drivers) in the 2005 US Grand Prix, our history is full of such instances of dejection. Being the second most populated country in the world should hold certain advantages when it comes to sporting talent but a paltry return of 20 medals over 26 Olympics spanning more than a hundred years sums up India’s sporting history in brief. Yet there is a sport, without being our national game or even a part of the Olympics, which brings the entire nation to a grinding halt.

Cricket, the gentleman’s game, is India’s favourite obsession. It is hard to imagine how and why a sport played full time in just ten countries around the world, would bring all of India to a standstill. However, it is this beautiful game which has brought great honour and respect to India. No one can forget what our team of underdogs achieved in the 1983 Cricket World Cup, eight years after our first and till date last Hockey World Cup triumph. It comes as no surprise how cricket has risen to our No.1 sport given our success over the last decade with the 2007 T20 WC and 2011 WC victories shining brightly. Add to that a thriving domestic T20 tournament (IPL), lucrative sponsorship contracts and the general public’s interminable love for the game; cricket has been catapulted to dizzying heights impossible to reach for any other sport in the country. Even eight consecutive away defeats in Tests have not been enough to prune down the media’s coverage of cricket. This fixation with cricket needs to change fast if India wants to be a global force in sports.

It presents a huge challenge for the administrators of other sports to grab the eyeballs that cricket does, which leads to a host of other problems, least of all sponsorship. Hockey India’s reward of Rs. 25,000 for the players winning the Asia Cup would come as no surprise to those associated with the sports ministry. Big business houses invest in profitable sports and with India’s unpredictable performances in hockey, not many are willing to take that punt. Not many know what India’s only individual gold medalist Abhinav Bindra is up to these days with the Olympics less than six months away. Yet, we all expect great performances from our athletes without ever bothering to know their preparation leading up to the games. The time has come for the government to step up and save other sports in the country. Huge investments are required to build adequate infrastructure starting from the grassroots level.

We would all love to have another Sachin Tendulkar but we all know it is another Dhyan Chand we require.