In other words, India and cricket became synonymous unlike the famous slogan of DK Barooah who coined India is Indira and Indira is India. Indira is no more but cricket still lives on.
Present old people are the few surviving breeds who have seen Don Bradman as much as they have seen Virat Kohli. Yesterday while watching the India-Pakistan match, I quickly recalled all I could. Names, if not their images, sporadically flashed through my mind and they are Gary Sobers, Wesley Hall, Gibbs, Ian Botham, Tony Greig, Ian Chappel, Graham Griffith, Rohan Kanhai, Brian Lara, Hanse Cronje, Wasim Akram, Afridi, Javed Miandad, not to speak of our own jewels right from Vijay Merchant, Nawab Pataudi, ML Jaisimha, Abid Ali, Abbas Ali Baig, EAS Prasanna, B. S. Chandrasekhar, Eknath Solkar, Borde, Dilip Sardesai, Dilip Vengsarkar, Sunil Gavaskar, Farookh Engineer, Ravi Shastri, Bishen Singh, Kapil Dev, Navjot Singh Siddhu to the present breed of Kohli, Rohit, Aswin, Shreyas et al. I know I may be crucified if I don’t take Tendulkar, Srikanth, Kumble, Laxman, Vinod Kamble’s names.
For Indians, the world would stop when they play against Pakistan. Adrenalin is at its peak demand in both countries but in a controlled manner when they face each other in a neutral place. From the five-day match, we have shrunk to a 50-over match in tune with the changing times and generations. But shrinking it further to 20-20 is indeed stretching it too far for oldies. This shrinkage over some years is indicative of how we have compelled ourselves to adapt to a stark reality – that time, money, excitement, and instant results are the latest addictive add-ons. To say how we commercialised cricket, the less said the better.
Earlier we used to watch cricket for runs and wickets but it is nowadays rated through dollars and cents. Earlier the bat and the ball mattered but now the rise and the fall of this game making heroes and zeroes matter a lot. When we were young, we used to watch the field, rather the pitch but today we hardly look for the level playing field. We are putting the cattle to shame by auctioning players. We have a kichdi of players drawn all over the world with different DNAs. The cheer girls dancing for a four or a six or a wicket is the last straw of the vulgar commercialisation of this great revered game. But since youngsters and middle-aged add up to numbers, senior citizens are edged out and cautioned to go with the changing trends.
All said and done, Kohli with Gill, and Shreyas did not succumb to the impatience of the spectators but in fact, drove home the message that patience pays. Rohit was satisfied with a few fireworks but the remaining batsmen ensured that slow and steady wins the race. They were walking the singles. But for missing about three catches by India, the Pakistan score would have been much lesser. The great part of cricket is that we can not generalise strategies of winning matches to all teams of various nations. Like a doctor administers depending on the patient, cricket also goes the same way. The Indian bowlers gave more fours and even sixes but our batsmen compensated by taking singles, thus proving that like drops of water make an ocean, they did win the match and added up to Kohli’s hundred too. Let’s hope, the spirit, patience, and perseverance and not yielding to the restlessness of the spectators who naturally want their favourite fours, sixes, and wickets, are reflected in ensuing matches too.
