NO FAIR: IT'S NOT CRICKET

Maybe I'm the one that's paranoid. Maybe the Indian team has genuinely become the kind of side that can take a hit and come back aggressive as you please, psyching the opposition against all odds. I am also one of the billion-plus people who would like to believe that. But I also like to feel like I have an "x-ray" sense, if you will, that sensitizes me to the subliminal energy levels of the Indian team. At the times when this energy level matches what I see on TV, I am able to believe that the Indian side has fared according to its performance. But several times, more so off late, I can't help but feel that Indian cricket has been suctioned by a politicized world.

What do I mean by that? The game of cricket has grown such a viewership and patronage that it presents itself as the perfect mascot for politicos to channel their agendas through. It would indeed seem unnatural if such a media specimen as ostentatious as the Indian cricket team were not exploited by the powers that be. In a certain liberal sense, such exploitation would not even seem wrong or immoral. A sport need not ever feel like it supersedes a self-promoting agenda. A businessman may surely use something as attention-grabbing as the Indian cricket side to help his agenda along – no incriminations leveled. Fair enough. But it does hurt the ardent follower of the game to feel that the game they are investing so much of their energies and passion on could be rigged.

(The following is seeped in conjecture that I would like to be read with an open mind – indeed with a mind wanting to be led by the words it is reading)

Let us hark back a couple of years, where I first perceived this phenomenon in operation, to the T20 World Cup in South Africa. It can't be too outrageous an accusation to say that the Indian World T20 Champion squad possessed neither the mightiest hitters nor the most balanced T20 team. Indeed bowlers like Sreesanth, RP Singh were never touted as run-scrunchers. Even to this day, I can't help but wonder how India won the tournament playing against teams that boasted relentless hitters like Hayden, Gilchrist, Gayle, Graeme Smith, Mccullum and others. This is not to detract from the intense, timely performances by Indian players, but try as I might, I can't imagine how the Australian team performed worse on the same wicket that the Indians batted on. Emerging stars and fiery competitors in the oppositions apart, Australia cannot have been as feeble as they appeared to be during that tournament.

That was the period in cricketing history when a nascent format cried for feeding. Twenty-Twenty is largely a commerce-driven sport, as indeed it caters to the masses. The Men in charge of cricket's future (I don't know for sure who these are, but there have to be them) probably saw this as a most lucrative avenue. As they scratched their bearded chins (again, I can't make any informed assessment regarding the fuzziness of their chins, but let's assume for effect), the oldest member tugged his goatee especially hard and came up with the glorious realisation that India was the melting pot of cricketing dough. What better people to comprise a viewership than the largest and most proudly passionate cricket-fanatics in the world?

The tournament’s Final was aptly scripted to showcase the ripest rivalry cricket has been blessed with – India vs. Pakistan. And as India won the T20 World Cup, the senile (or youthful, I don't know!) wise men of cricket slapped each other high fives for the successful enticement of a billion wallets.

Then the next avatar taken by the Round Table of Cricket Elders: the T20 World Cup 2009. Pakistan had been through trying times at the time, and the refreshing quality of the timely victory to the despondent nation was beset, in my mind, by the same artificial phenomenon I saw repeated. Mohammad Aameer had bowled a wicket-maiden in the first over of a T20 World Cup Final to the fearsome Dilshan, and something felt amiss.

Not that either India or Pakistan is the best team in the world in the shorter format. Indeed, several pundits will tell you that neither has the normative ingredients that make up a champion team. The volatile and short format probably made it easier by making it necessary to win only a few matches; or on the flipside, be knocked out just as easily. It feels like an untrustworthily spoon-fed case-in-point in favour of my argument, but the first two winners of T20 tournaments just happened to be the two most ardent cricketing nations.

(Thanks for coming along and holding onto your rocks and tomatoes for this long. I pray for a slight increase in broadmindedness for the following words)

Now when Test cricket faced brickbats in the face of fast emptying stands, and needed a boost to stay alive, the best thing to happen to the form that needed saving was an India-based rescuing of the damsel in distress. The ever vigilant universe saw to it that India found itself at the top of the Test-rankings and the media fell in step with much expedient sensationalizing of this event. The next act of God was that the schedule did not hold any matches for India for a while. This made for more fodder for the media in that the Indian season's final Test series against South Africa could be touted grandly as the World Championship of Cricket.

The first Test at Nagpur India lost miserably. An innings defeat is hard to bear for a Numero Uno team. How much this defeat would benefit the cause of the sensationalist media in the slightly longer run is evident now. The next match at the Eden Gardens was a must-win for India to retain its youthful berth at the top for the end of the season. India rallied mightily, delivering a like blow to the Proteas to clinch a penultimate-over victory. Harbhajan Singh duly performed his historic sprint evading clamouring teammates, making a beeline for the boundary ropes, where his Athenian exultations may be all the better displayed in the limelight. The sight of a triumphant Bhajji throwing open his chest at the roaring crowd in a feral expression of victory has to be a genuinely powerful image in sporting history books.

All this constituted a strong shot in the arm for Test cricket. Now that India is the top ranked team in a format, there is bound to be healthy respect for Test cricket, which as always Indian glory never fails to generate for its patron format.

With such glorious goals as to preserve the sport and do some Samaritanism for an ailing nation; even promote a young sport, the artifices of cricket’s powers can well be condoned. Even praised. But what price an honest game of cricket?

Here is me hoping to be trashed with convincing counter-arguments debunking all this as paranoid, irrational mental gymnastics. But watching India play has lost that much sheen for me as every time I watch them play, the puppet strings stand out from their shoulder-blades.

INDIA SHINE AND RISE TO THE TOP

Proud papas and mammas
Originally uploaded by mihirbee

At long last, Test cricket received a stimulus shot as India clinched the top spot in the ICC Test team rankings for the first time, following its series victory over the visiting Sri Lankan team. Overtaking South Africa, Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team became the third team, since the Test championship was introduced in 2001, to occupy the coveted spot. This augurs well for the languishing Test Cricket arena. Hard graft, teamwork, balance and discipline are some of the labels attached to this team, which has only come to benefit under the youthful maturity that Dhoni has brought to the table with his serene captaincy.

India can boast one of the most balanced batting and bowling line-ups in today’s teams. The stability of the starts Gambhir and Sehwag construct does not diminish their freedom. Riding on their work, a massive middle order comes to surfeit. Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman have made sure that Ganguly is not overly missed, with consistent contributions. Yuvraj and Dhoni have hung back at the end to provide the quick runs to take targets out of reach for the opposition.

Tendulkar, resident Grandsire of the Indian One-day outfit, finds time to exult over what must be a long-cherished dream. His Test career has spanned two decades, in which he has played among several Indian greats like Kapil Dev, Srikkanth, Shastri, Azharuddin, Ganguly, Amarnath and more. In all these years, the Indian team was subjected to the labeling of being a “home bully‘- “away bunny”. Finally, Tendulkar can be part of the team which, even though bereft of one of the Fab Four, touched the summit.

Dhoni too graciously acknowledged the entire gamut of contributions by the coach, personnel and whoever had been part of the side in the last 18 months. While this hard-earned achievement is to be celebrated at the moment, it could well be short-lived, as India will not have the chance to protect its new-found title in the coming months. It plays only two tests in the next six months. The next Test India is scheduled to play is against Bangladesh, beyond which there will be a dry spell. During that time, their fate as the top-dog would be vulnerable and defenceless. Dhoni, ever the optimist, decided to play this susceptibility down and asserted that this was a time to savour the remarkable achievement rather than worry about something they could not control. Maintaining this position would be an unsteady prospect, notwithstanding the lack of upcoming matches.

Harsha Bhogle brings attention to the fact that while this achievement is a remarkable one by Dhoni’s team, the cash prize awarded to the current set of players ignores the sizeable contribution that past teams and players have made to this end. Sourav Ganguly built India up to the point where they were no longer pushovers outside their backyard. Under Dravid’s captaincy, the team ended several winless droughts overseas – in West Indies and England. Anil Kumble generated the team discipline that won India the Perth Test in 2008. Therefore, it has been an honest ascent to the top for India, and not a patronized placement as many might like to believe.

Geoff Boycott never fails to strike the dissonant, albeit astute note. In his inimitable wont, he has pointed out that the Test ranking system bears flaws and is unreliable in instating a particular team at the top. He notes that unless there is an equitable distribution of matches with and against each team, a fair judgement cannot be made as regards the best team in the world. Perhaps his famed grandmom could come up with such a system, Haroon Lorgat might offer.