India Loses to Bangladesh in Cricket. How concerned you should be?

So the unthinkable has happened. Bangladesh has defeated India in a one day Series in cricket. I have had a particular grudge against bangladesh because they have helped South africans collect plenty of records that used to be India’s. The most important being that of Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj roys’ record 413 runs partnership in test cricket. In fact the other test playing nations just supposed to go there and win matches by default. Not Anymore. India has been their latest victims in their bid to gain respect in cricketing world. Channels after channels are busy in doing a post mortem of the defeat.What went wrong. Whats the way forward for indian cricket and of course the usual demand for MSD’s resignation.Questions are being asked. What will happen to the future of the indian cricket. its been a couple of years since tendulkar is gone but no one has truly filled into his shoes despite kohli and rohit’s rise in the cricketing circles.The cool and composed Dhoni is now looking not so cool . The fans are worried. It seems all dark.

But my question to the cricket fans is, do they really need to bother about it any more?  Clearly BCCI has never given any thought to the sentiments of the poor cricket fan. From their humble beginnings in the pre independence days they have gone on to become the Sport’s most powerful bodies in the world. but yet when it comes to being open and transparent about the finances of the institution, they go to the supreme court claiming they dont represent India and they are a private club. This despite having India in the name of the board and printing India on the back of the players Jersey. There can not be a bigger insult to the 1.25 billion people standing in queues, facing scorching heat and rains and chanting “Sachin……Sachin…” .

To those of my generation which are following cricket since the early 90s, they would clearly remember how bangladesh was granted the test cricket status. Jagmohan dalmiya struck a deal with bangladesh in exchange of their support for running the post of ICC president.No offense to bangladesh cricketers and their hard work but this is the harsh reality of cricket. Cricket has since then been all about power and politics. I have never really understood how can politicians who may never have done a 100 m sprint were being made responsible for running a sports body. Do they understand cricket?Are they more competent than the likes of Gavaskar, Kapil or Vishwanath? Do they understand players psyche better than ex players themselves? Definitely not. What draws politicians into the sports administration is the immense power and control it brings. And of course the glamour factor, the limelight. you can’t count that out. The likes of sharad pawar and arun jaitleys have given the sports true political shades.

Whatever was left in the destruction of true cricket was done away with the introduction of IPL. BCCI in order to counter the ICL tried to put a rabbit out of the hat. What came out was a monster dragon which engulfed everything else. It changed the whole meaning of professional cricketers. The priorities changed for every one, The borad, cricketers and fans of course. Suddenly, no one was interested in playing Ranji trophey. And just like that, a 4 over bowling performance or a 20 ball 50 was enough to give you a selection into the national team. Never mind the likes of hundreds of cricketers toiling for 4 days in tournament like ranji trohphey or duleep trophy. Its all about glamour and cheer girls, scoop shots and switch hits. Lack of technique was being renamed as improvisation. The players that people used to worship were suddenly a commodity. They were being auctioned off, traded between teams and discarded at will. Adam gilchrist was right in saying in the first auction. “I felt like i am being a cow in a market”. Will any Cricket fan ever be able to say “Cricket is our Religion and XXX is our god?” Certainly not.

Amid all this, the national cricket team was no longer a priority. The test cricket is simply not lucrative enough.And its just fine if we loose a series or two here and there. Its no big deal. thanks to the booming indian economy the sponsorships will keep coming in. The players will keep getting their millions for a 6 week T20 stint and the board will keep making billions and arm twist other boards into submission because of their financial might. We are now the power brokers of the cricketing world. So no need to worry. They can loose a couple more series to zimbabwe or ireland. The world wont come to and end. So you my dear cricket fan should not loose heart. All is well with the indian cricket. Just that sacredness is not there in the sports you loved.And stop chanting Sachin… Sachin.. The master is gone. He is planning another T20 League of his own.