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Cricket and national pride

George Bernard Shaw, in his time, said some pretty unkind things about sport. Few of us would choose to go along with his kind of satirical contempt of cricket. However, there are times when romantic notions of the game's exalted place in society conflict with reality. How else can you reconcile the notion of sportsmanship with the fierce, over-the-top reactions to the successive defeats suffered by the Indian cricket team in One Day Internationals in South Africa? The nasty reaction of some groups of `fans'— Mohammad Kaif's house was vandalised in Allahabad and effigies of the Indian players and the coach were burnt in street protests in Ranchi — may not have come as a surprise in the light of past experience. However, serious questions need to be asked about the values underpinning India's national obsession when Members of Parliament join the chorus and some of them speak about raising a privilege motion against Team India coach Greg Chappell for candidly stating his understanding of the value of parliamentary instructions on cricket.

Traditionally, sportsmanship has meant grace under pressure. Even if contemporary sport militates against Rudyard Kipling's lofty instruction to "meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same," there is little sense in responding to cricket defeats as if they were a national calamity. It is no secret that Indian cricket is in decline, in both forms of the game. Rahul Dravid's side did not board the flight to Johannesburg promising awe-inspiring feats on the hard, bouncy pitches of South Africa. With the most gifted Indian batsman of all time, Sachin Tendulkar, in a state of natural decline, with a once formidable top-order in disarray, with the bowling lacking firepower as well as discipline much of the time, and with the fielding lacking consistency, it will take a miracle to convert this team into a serious contender for next year's World Cup. And it will take more than a miracle for India to challenge Australia in Test cricket — the way Saurav Ganguly's men brought the world champions (minus McGrath and Warne, of course) to the brink of defeat in the 2003-2004 down under series. In short, Team India 2006 has a mountain to climb. Coach, captain, and team have no choice but to go back to the basics and keep trying. Meanwhile, cricket fans as well as parliamentarians need to understand that it is unwise as well as unsporting to treat cricket as some kind of barometer of national pride.

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