India Broadband Forum

xwhyz

This is the bad thing about us, indians, who will keep the indian cricketers on top of the world when they win and will throw them into dumps when they lose and i don't understand why we don't watch it as just another sport. The recent win against australia has been so much hyped by media without any reason and i wonder why is that. And sachin is saying this win is next only the world cup win and why?

There are lots of unanswered question about this mysterious and funny game called cricket! When will we change?!

just4kix

xwhyz, I agree that too much fuss is made over cricket. But let us also understand the backdrop:

a) India is so lousy at any sport that we are dying to see some heroics somewhere
b) The generic Indian is basically very frustrated with the daily chores - pollution, corruption, traffic, inflation and high prices, worry about tomorrow, lack of entertainment (other than movies), etc. The list can simply go on. There needs to be something to cheer about and look forward to ...
c) Cricket as a sport has been widely popular for ages - media is just adding the fuel to the fire - and come to think of it, that is the only sport that we are reasonably good at

Result: Cricket is the religion of the country.

When it comes to media, they will show/print only stories that sell.

Now coming to Sachin's statement. I do not find anything wrong with that. He is quoting with reference to cricket only. Apart from WC-83 and Champions Trophy-85, what major world tournaments have we won? How many teams went to Australia in the last 10 years and came back with their heads high? The only team that beat Australia in a triangular was England last year and they won only in the finals loosing to AUS in group matches. That is why this win counts as very high.

I hope this does help explain the mysteries of cricket to an extent.

When will we change? That will happen, when there are other sports which India starts excelling in. You know that we do not pay any importance to sport at school level. We need to change from this level.

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xwhyz

You are absolutely right in telling that we excel to some degree only in cricket and that too remember that cricket is not played everywhere, it is being played between the british colonies and even many countries across the world does not even know that there is a sports named cricket exist or not! Remember i am not against cricket but against indian cricket.

I always have a doubt on indians winning because we really dont have that much talent that we always boast of, to be frank. I am starting to think in the way of a big reality show where the producer is BCCI president and he can control anyone, including ICC with the huge money he is sitting on.

Its not that we don't excel in other sports, just see we did indeed win doubles tennis even in grand slams. Everyone knows that we are the champions in chess and in hockey too we were winning some important tournaments like asia cup, etc. just like in cricket.

It all lies on the crowd mentality of our general indian public who always prefer to run behind where the crowd is! The comman man should realize that winning in cricket is not the true pride of indians but it is just a sport!!

I pity those fanatic indian fans who think the cricketers as the super heroes but they are cheating themselves, those super heroes earn crores or rupees and definitely are not playing for the country, as they say every time in interviews!! I feel that watching Indian cricket is the worsest thing one would do in his life, and i too did that mistake some years back but got the enlightenment recently and have stopped watching indian cricket!

just4kix

On the contrary Indian cricketers do have the talent and the capability to be the best; they just lack self belief. Confidence is everything; well 50-70% anyway. Australia is at the top because they believe that they can decimate anybody. When other teams arrive in Australia their first thoughts are on how to avoid humiliating defeats and even whitewashes. Indians challenged this, this time around. The main reason was the humiliation from Sydney test and the controversies thereafter. Our problem (in the past) has often been that we relax after a reasonable amount of success. Hope things are different now.

I do believe that cricketers play for the country and take a lot of pride in that. If they didn't they wouldn't last. Cricketers often advertise for products for which they get paid a lot of money. They are lapped up when they are at the top. These ads last at least six months to a year. When someone goes into a slump, the ads are still running and we say that they are playing only for money. Success and failure are part of the game - and so it should be taken in stride.

And then what is wrong in earning crores? Every person has the right to make as much money as he wants. After all not every cricketer can last as long as 18-20 years - if he does, it is because he has to be good.

These are my own thoughts.