India and World Cricket

What a sight on the TV screen at the end of the final match .The night skyline was lit up with beautiful fire crackers.This match will be remembered for the revival of the matches at the nostalgic Brabourne Stadium, the unexpected showers which interrupted the one sided match,the monotony of an Aussie win absence of any Asian team and the TV presentation which became more worth watching than the cricket itself.India and the expert event managers of the Cricket board held the series in grand style ,with the likes of Mandira Bedi,who made it sure that all stayed glued to the TV and saw the commercials always and Cricket whenever it was interesting.

So we now come to the Title "India and World Cricket".What is India's and the Indian team's contribution.India has been always hospitable to any guests and especially so when there are celebrities.We feel honoured when all praise us in taking utmost care of the cricketers,their travelling,site seeing,lodging,receptions,functions in their honour,etc.This part is very well taken care of.
Now the Indian teams contribution.Well they participated in it whole heartedly,as though taking part in some celebrations.The ICC President has aptly said that India has the money but where is the cricket ? People fail to understand that India has just to participate.We are there to generate revenue for the individuals,the Board,the local Associations,the Sponsors.Cricket has been reduced to an event,no seriousness,no answerability as far as the Indian team is concerned.

What makes the other countries tick ? Not only cricket but other sports as well . Year after year as India performs miserably,the postmortems go on till the next event . Talking about cricket why is the selection made on past performances and past glories ? Is it wrong to drop a senior non performing player and take a young promising one,who is curently in great form ? I feel other countries especially Australia have developed their habit of winning because of merit and nothing else . Money corrupts absolutely, as shown by our players . I get the feeling that they spend more time in shoots than in the nets . My suggestion is that the Board should collect the lollies on their behalf and release the money as per their performances . No play no money . It looks so stupid seeing them dancing around and making faces in the ads that crop up when actually wickets are tumbling down or the bowlers are getting slaughtered . Don't they themselves feel ashamed or are they busy counting their lollies as criticism mounts and they turn a blind eye and deaf ears ?

The only heartening thing is the Midas Touch !! No country on this planet will criticise India's performance . They know and we also know India has to just participate and the money flows . ICC has made a great turnaround thanks to Indian Administrators . All the boards and the clubs reap a golden harvest as India participates . People forget the scores ,the losses,the humiliation that the spectators and not the players feel, we only remember the performance in the advertisements not on the field. Lavish praises will always be for the rival teams.

Hence forth my resolution is to see the game ,as a game we know, when other teams play and see it as a performance when India plays,as it looks like excellent acting when they stare at the bat,or shake their head,or limp or droop their head,or have a sorrowful face when returning to the pavilion . With this in mind it will not be necessary for me to write on this topic again.Blogging is great.So nice and relieved I feel on purging my mind of a pent up frustration on India and World Cricket.