Cricket
No-Balled
:: by Ishtmit Singh Malik ::
Shabby treatment to non-cricketing sports
Hail Vishwanathan Anand, Hail Pankaj Advani Hail Asian Cup winning
Indian Hockey Team, Hail the Great Khali, World wrestling champion
of WWE, Hail all the sportsmen of our motherland who have sweated
out their blood and tears to make our nation proud. Oh! lest I
forget our poor cousins the world champions of 20-20 over
khel tamasha cricket.
The so called gentleman's game of cricket is anything but gentle.
All the glaring rowdyism and lewd gestures are there for everyone to
behold whenever a bowler claims a prized wicket. There was a time
when the Indian flannelled bunch of cricketers, underdogs at best,
had surprised everyone with a stupendous victory at "Lords" to claim
the crown of one day cricket in 1983. This was a team proud to be
Indians yet modest and well mannered even when they exulted at their
well earned win over the mighty West Indians.
Gone are the graces of what is the finest element in a human being,
that what we called "a gentleman" and why not . Today naked
aggression has taken its place even as crude money power has
replaced the sport. We are a crazy lot who dance in a frenzy when
our "mitti ke sher" cricketers
do something which is unexpected - they win and God help them if
they lose unexpectedly - they become useless mortals and good for
nothing fellows.
An Anand, a Geet, a Pankaj, a Great khali, a Rajyavardhan Rathore, a
toiling hockey artist, an Anju Bobby George, a middle class railway
man, Rupesh Shah, a Baichung Bhutia combine their day and night to
work hard in a continuous way to achieve excellence. And all they
get is just a pittance compared to the "modern Indian deity" -- the
cricketer. Why is their such discrimination, why such adulation
showered on the "men in blue". Are other sportsmen (other
than cricket) any less performers. Are they lesser mortals. Or
are they condemned to just sulk and be frustrated.
Recently, Pankaj Advani refused the "Eklavya Award" given by the
Karnataka Government on the plea that it was an act which was too
late and too little. He further added that what more had he to do to
get due recognition. While A Robin Utthapa gets 2.5 Crore, Pankaj
will have to be satisfied with the Union Governments 25 Lakhs as a
winner of a world title in category "A". Is the blood of a cueist
less thicker than a cricketer. Is a cricketer more dignified than
Anand. Does a cricketer put in more effort than a hockey player. It
is a BIG NO in answer.
The media should also answer this. Till yesterday even cricket could
not boast of such luxuries. Suddenly due to the opening up of the
markets the naked face of a capitalistic society understanding the
pulse of the nation got into the act and flooded the game of cricket
with a huge cache of money providing a short route to a strapping
and high profile youngster to be consumed of the American ideology -
"get rich quick streak" through the easy route of cricket.
Let us all non cricketing sportsmen get together to fight this
injustice meted out by the media, the state governments and the big
business houses. Let the Corporates know that in the guise of
encouragement their attempt to demean our national character will
not succeed. But, Yes! let the non - cricketing sports bodies also
share the blame for this strange but true inequality. They are
answerable to the budding youth of our country who look to sports as
a career.
Moreover, let us be balanced in our approach and behave as an almost
developed nation which is on the threshold of greatness with
maturity and what is inherent in our citizen -- simplicity and
humility.
Let us no-ball the propagators of "over money" in the sports arena
and defeat the politics of the cheap populist policies of our sports
administrators and the betting syndicates which have brought the
stakes to their present levels for after all sports is sports and we
must let it be so. Sports is not an industry as it is made out to
be. It is a means to develop our national character. It is one of
the only pleasurable method of improving a sense of discipline and
fairness in the multi-polar, multi-lingual and multi-religious
Indian society. We must reach our true face, unity in diversity
through games and sport.
New Delhi ::
4th October 2007
|