Cricket No-Balled

:: by Ishtmit Singh Malik ::

Hail Vishwanathan Anand, Hail Pankaj Advani Hail Asian Cup winning Indian Hockey Team, Hail the Great Khali, World wrestling champion of WWE, Hail all the sportsmen of our motherland who have sweated out their blood and tears to make our nation proud. Oh! lest I forget our poor cousins the world champions of 20-20 over khel tamasha cricket.

The so called gentleman's game of cricket is anything but gentle. All the glaring rowdyism and lewd gestures are there for everyone to behold whenever a bowler claims a prized wicket. There was a time when the Indian flannelled bunch of cricketers, underdogs at best, had surprised everyone with a stupendous victory at "Lords" to claim the crown of one day cricket in 1983. This was a team proud to be Indians yet modest and well mannered even when they exulted at their well earned win over the mighty West Indians.

Gone are the graces of what is the finest element in a human being, that what we called "a gentleman" and why not . Today naked aggression has taken its place even as crude money power has replaced the sport. We are a crazy lot who dance in a frenzy when our "mitti ke sher" cricketers do something which is unexpected - they win and God help them if they lose unexpectedly - they become useless mortals and good for nothing fellows.

An Anand, a Geet, a Pankaj, a Great khali, a Rajyavardhan Rathore, a toiling hockey artist, an Anju Bobby George, a middle class railway man, Rupesh Shah, a Baichung Bhutia combine their day and night to work hard in a continuous way to achieve excellence. And all they get is just a pittance compared to the "modern Indian deity" -- the cricketer. Why is their such discrimination, why such adulation showered on the "men in blue". Are other sportsmen (other than cricket) any less performers. Are they lesser mortals. Or are they condemned to just sulk and be frustrated.

Recently, Pankaj Advani refused the "Eklavya Award" given by the Karnataka Government on the plea that it was an act which was too late and too little. He further added that what more had he to do to get due recognition. While A Robin Utthapa gets 2.5 Crore, Pankaj will have to be satisfied with the Union Governments 25 Lakhs as a winner of a world title in category "A". Is the blood of a cueist less thicker than a cricketer. Is a cricketer more dignified than Anand. Does a cricketer put in more effort than a hockey player. It is a BIG NO in answer.

The media should also answer this. Till yesterday even cricket could not boast of such luxuries. Suddenly due to the opening up of the markets the naked face of a capitalistic society understanding the pulse of the nation got into the act and flooded the game of cricket with a huge cache of money providing a short route to a strapping and high profile youngster to be consumed of the American ideology - "get rich quick streak" through the easy route of cricket.

Let us all non cricketing sportsmen get together to fight this injustice meted out by the media, the state governments and the big business houses. Let the Corporates know that in the guise of encouragement their attempt to demean our national character will not succeed. But, Yes! let the non - cricketing sports bodies also share the blame for this strange but true inequality. They are answerable to the budding youth of our country who look to sports as a career.

Moreover, let us be balanced in our approach and behave as an almost developed nation which is on the threshold of greatness with maturity and what is inherent in our citizen -- simplicity and humility.

Let us no-ball the propagators of "over money" in the sports arena and defeat the politics of the cheap populist policies of our sports administrators and the betting syndicates which have brought the stakes to their present levels for after all sports is sports and we must let it be so. Sports is not an industry as it is made out to be. It is a means to develop our national character. It is one of the only pleasurable method of improving a sense of discipline and fairness in the multi-polar, multi-lingual and multi-religious Indian society. We must reach our true face, unity in diversity through games and sport.

New Delhi :: 4th October 2007