Inevitable

Yes, the inevitable and expected has happened - the Indian Cricket team failed to make it to the second round of the WC! As expected, there are loud protests, the usual stone throwing, effigy burning and police security outside the cricketers' homes (all this is becoming very repetitive and boring though!) The usual blame games have started, the media doing countless postmortems, and calls to sack everyone from the captain to the coach to the selectors, players - everyone! Thankfully, no one is asking for the masseuse / physio's heads :-)

I read a very good article in the print version of the STOI yesterday, where the author has stated that maybe instead of we losing, the other team won! It was the better team of the 2, better prepared and had the skill + manpower to win! I agree with the dude completely. For all the money that the Indian board has, it has failed to do the basics right and the result is there for all to see! No point in me dwelling on those as everyone in India has an opinion and knows what ails India cricket and what needs to be done (except for the people in power!).

The main point I want to make is - it is about time we as a nation stopped being so obsessed with cricket and according the status of God to our cricketers. We cannot put impossible expectations on 11 men and expect them to go out each time and thrash the opponents. And when they fail to do so, we need to accept that is just a stupid game after all and a loss is not the end of it - at least not for the aam junta! Come on people, get a life, and if you can't stop indulging vicariously through 11 men and then try to slaughter them when they fail to live upto your expectations!

-uv.

p.s. looks like playing for the country was after all not enough "inspiration" for Harbhajan Singh and the rest :-D