WORLD CUP 2011: THE GREAT LOSS OF INDIA CELEBRATIONS CALM DOWN. REALITY BITES NOW

           

By Firoz.T.Totanawala

The Bangalore Metro Reporter

15th April 2011 issue-

WORLD CUP 2011: THE GREAT LOSS OF INDIA

       CELEBRATIONS CALM DOWN. REALITY BITES NOW

Congratulations to India and Team India for winning the Cricket World Cup, 2011. Well, now that the euphoria seems to be in control, let us talk about some relevant and important incidents that are associated with Indian cricket.

Dear fellow citizens, please do not get emotional or excited after the knowing the fact that our Indian cricket team never played or won the world cup for our India. Of course, they played and won it for the star Batsman, Sachin Tendulkar, who would retire soon and not play in the next 2015 world cup.

Yuvraj Singh had earlier stated that he is playing the world cup for a particular person and will reveal the name of the individual later. He later made it clear that it was indeed Sachin Tendulkar. Most of the players after winning the finals admitted that they all played with their goal being World Cup for Sachin Tendulkar.

All these mean one simple conclusion that Sachin Tendulkar was put above India. Nobody disputes the greatness of Sachin Tendulkar who has broken myriads of records in cricket world. He has created records which other players in the near future can not even think of breaking, let alone equaling. But, does that mean that he is put above the nation? If the players have played and won for Sachin, then team India should be renamed as team Sachin. If at all, he was the only consideration then there was no need to play under the name and style of India. Now that he is retiring and will not be playing 2015 World cup, does it imply that our players will have no reason to win the next world cup?

Cricket has given Sachin everything in the world. He has name, fame and money and undoubtedly he is worth hundreds of crores. The ‘endorsement’ agreement he signed few years back is said to be more than 250 crores! Of late few ardent fans of Sachin and some sections of the electronic media have even started calling him ‘God’ of cricket. And even though the contribution of the great Sachin was negligible in the final match, the attribution was such that as if he has brought us the world cup. 

Just like how one attributes his achievements to his near and dear ones, the ‘World Cup’ victory may have been attributed to Sachin as a mark of gratitude by his team mates. Nobody would have objected to the players dedicating the World cup to Sachin. But, in stead, the players said in unison that they played for and won the World cup for him. This has indeed disappointed a large section of cricket fans who were under the impression that the players were playing for India and that they are paid in crores for the same.

Whenever any team wins an international tournament, the Captain normally says that the team won because of the team spirit and the collective contribution from all the players and the guidance by the coach. They attribute the success to the entire team including supporting staff. Even though there may be one or two players who might have played dominant and decisive role in the win and are particularly mentioned, but still attributing the success to the team effort is in good spirit.

Of course, the moment the Indian team won, millions of people not necessarily cricket fans, celebrated the events as if they had won the world cup! It was the word ‘India’ that mattered. And truly, it is always the country that matters in such glorious feats and not any individual. Take for example the Indian victory in 1983 and everybody remembers that Kapil Dev had captained Indian team. But they will hardly remember other players of the team? It will be hard to recall all of them which mean that the country matters in such glorious feats and not the team members.

The 2011 world cup win is exclusively a victory for India with nobody’s share in it. The players have unfortunately, belittled the importance of the victory of the world cup by not stating that they won it for the country instead for an individual, however high or mighty he/she may be.