This post is dedicated to my
favourite team – the Indian Cricket Team. It’s come late; a week after they’ve
won the Champions Trophy 2013. India is now the only team to have won the 20,
50, and 60 Over World Cups and the Champions Trophy. The only team that can
match them is West Indies, but them winning the 50 over World Cup in the near
future looks farfetched.
This trophy is even sweeter
because of the lack of big names. The big 3 (Sachin, Sourav, Dravid), Zaheer,
Kumble, Yuvraj, Sehwag, Gambhir... no one was part of the team. Yet it went on
not only to win the Champions Trophy, but stay undefeated throughout (7-0).
Remember when the Aussies started sliding downhill? When they lost McGrath,
Warne, the Waugh brothers, Gilchrist, Hayden, Fleming and others.
Until a few days before the
tourney started, the Indian media was busy slamming Dhoni for holding a stake
in some firm. Match fixing allegations had surfaced in the IPL, and while
everyone sympathized with Dravid, they chastised Dhoni and said his team should
be disqualified. We conveniently forgot that he captained our team to the 1st
ODI series victory in Australia after almost 2 decades, the T20 World Cup
victory, whitewashing the Aussies 4-0 at home (which was the last team that
achieved it?), the Asia Cup and many other victories.
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| India - The ICC Champions Trophy 2013 winners |
The Aussie and British media are
die-hard supporters of their teams. We, on the other hand, are never satisfied.
If India loses, that’s how we always play. If India wins, the match was fixed.
Plus the media comes out with stories completely unrelated to cricket bashing
its own players. And we lap it up like gluttons. Dhoni’s stake becomes the
point of discussion in trains, on lunch tables, Facebook, Twitter and
everywhere else. We care more about the IPL than the Indian cricket team. Come
on guys... use your brains. Where do your loyalties lie? With your national
cricket team (all of whom are Indians) or with your IPL team, ½ the side of
which comprises of foreigners?
The media now is glorifying
Dhoni. He’s on the front page of most papers. They’re publicizing how he built
his biceps on a litre of milk every day. Suddenly Dhoni is God, while he was
the Devil some days ago. Convenient? We lapped up their shit a few days ago.
We’re lapping up their bullshit even now. Guess who’s the fool here?
We’re euphoric because the Indian
team has won the Champions Trophy. But this feeling won’t last long. One
mediocre series and we’ll be screaming for heads of our players again. Our
memories of their bad performances outlast the good ones.
Dear fans, our team has achieved
so much in the last ½ decade. All this while they’re on the road the most. They
are humans too. They suffer from fatigue, homesickness; they miss their loved
ones, monotony sets in... the list can go on. Please cut them some slack. The
next time they have an average series remember all the good they’ve done. And
for God’s sake, stop caring about how a cricketer does business. Their personal
life is none of our concern. We must care about what they do on the field, and
they are doing a fabulous job right now. Jai Hind.
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