I'm very sure people will curse me for saying this, call me unpatriotic, and some other names perhaps, but here's an article by the Economic Times which tells you in no uncertain terms that this loss is very good for India. Now, don't you dare call me unpatriotic.
These aside, my personal reasons for being elated about this are:
- No sport, and certainly not cricket - which is played (in a meaningful way) by only a handful of countries - deserves this kind of mad, almost rabid, following, and certainly not the Indian cricket team which does nothing by way of achievement on the field. Most certainly not in a country where the average Indian is struggling to make ends meet whileas the cricketer earns a cool Rs.100k for a match irrespective of the result.
- I lost my respect for the team, and my hatred was ready to burst, when they threatened to not play in the previous World Cup due to disagreement with the BCCI over payment! Now, I'm quite aware that this is the era of multi-million rupee deals, but certainly, the pride of playing for your country should mean something? To these players to whom money is everything, that's obviously not the case!
- The Indian team does not seem to put its heart and soul into its efforts on the field, thus paving the way for teams like Bangladesh to beat us; for teams like NZ, WI, and almost any other team, to create records at our expense. This sucks!
- Cricket is really a lazy man's game - besides the batsmen in the middle, the bowler and, to an extent, the wicketkeeper and the fielder to / past whom the ball is hit, the rest of the people can really cool their heels. Not my idea of active sports.
- Then there's the pace of the game - among the slowest of all sports, though that dramatically changes when India is at the receiving end (as it usually is).
- Cricket is only as much, if not less of, an international game as kabaddi is, even if the mighty US starts playing it. Or to put it another way, for all the reasons that the baseball "World Series" is played by the entire world, cricket is an international game.
Disclaimer:
a. Am not an armchair critic. That's because I'm a couch critic ;-)
b. Though I've never showed any recognisable aptitude for cricket ever, I've never really cared for it, preferring individual sports like tennis, table tennis and badminton instead.
c. And believe me, I know how it hurts when I lose. I don't think that can be said of all the members of our team - a few don't seem to mind it much. But what do I know, they may have been men inspired by Kipling's "If" where he exhorts us to treat success and failure as one and the same.
d. Hey, these reasons are personal - if you don't like them, tell me and I'll try to make you see my point of view.
