In the ‘series’ against New Zealand, India lost the lone T20
match by 1 run. I did not watch the match as I was not aware of its schedule
and when I read in espncricinfo about India’s narrow defeat, my reaction was
like, “Oh, India lost the match by one run; hmm… what should I have for
breakfast – eggs or cereals?”
There is nothing special about the reaction. Millions of
Indians don’t have time or inclination to take an interest in cricket. But such
a reaction coming from me was surprising as I have always been an ardent
cricket fan. I used to know each and every detail of all the cricket matches
taking place, at least those involving India. I used to know who opened the
innings, who came at number 4, who scored a century and in how many balls, which
batting records were created, which bowling records broken and so on. No detail was too small to look into, no
number too big to memorize. In fact one time during my college days I watched
every ball of an ODI cricket match involving Kenya and Bangladesh! That is why when I look back on my reaction to
India’s T20 defeat I am surprised at the utter lack of emotions evoked by the
defeat. Neither was I disappointed at the loss nor did I discuss the match with
any of my friends. I couldn’t care less.
What is the reason for this apparent lack of emotions? Is it
just that I have lost interest in cricket or is there something wrong with cricket these days? I would like to
lean towards the latter as even as recently as last month I was keenly
following the England-SA test series; I watched most of the last Ashes series and
when India were routed 0-8 in their tours of England and Australia I was
utterly disappointed and did feel that I have been betrayed by the Indian team on whom I had so many expectations (I
am leaving out the World cup 2011 victory from the list as you don’t need to be
a cricket fan to celebrate the victory). The reason all the above matches evoked strong
interest was because they were all competitive matches played between two good
teams and more importantly, had a context – the England-SA series determined
the new No.1 Test side, India’s tours to England and Australia put their no. 1 Test
ranking through a litmus test (which unfortunately India failed to pass) and
the Ashes always have a sense of history associated with it. On the other hand
the T20 between India and New Zealand was an orphan match. There was a feeling
that the administrators, fans and even the players themselves did not care who
won the match as long as they had some fun.
Meaningless matches like these not only serve no purpose but
risk alienating committed fans like me in the long run. Unless and until a
victory doesn’t enthrall and a defeat doesn’t shatter the fans, the match doesn’t
deserve to be played and unfortunately the number of such matches are only
increasing these days.
Any sport, especially
cricket as it is played in only a handful of countries, needs passionate fans
for survival and if the passion is taken away, slowly but surely, the fan too will
go away.
