By Ananya S Guha
In the very early eightees the brilliant Pakistani journalist and commentator wrote a book questioning the survival of Pakistan. He made a statement which still reverberates: saying that for some people opium is the religion of the masses and for Pakistan religion is the opium of the masses. That statement must have drawn flak in many quarters. Although, in a very different context, I believe that cricket has sadly enough become the opium of the masses. This is because of the monetization, and corporate branding of cricket, turning it into a heady corporate world where players are ‘bid’ in an obnoxious manner like an auction – courtesy the IPL. Ever since the advent of the television, everyone seemed to be interested in instant cricket especially with the coming of one day matches which started with 60 overs, then was reduced to 50 overs and now we have truncated versions like the 20 overs format. Test Cricket was virtually forgotten and everyone found Test Cricket an awful bore to watch. The branding of cricket and its sponsorship by multinationals made one day cricket exciting and titillating to watch. And what with man of series awards like a spanky car made an appeal to the masses to live in their cloistered world of a fatuous wish fulfillment. Moreover, cricketers became celebrities and advertisement specialists so a cricketer was nothing short of a glamorous film actor. The Indian public found this fodder, not for thought but for a surrealistic dream world. And I am precisely talking about Indian cricket.
It is high time that we now underscore the importance of cricket in our national sports and lay emphasis on other games and sports. I am saying this not only because the Indian Cricket Team is loosing at home and Test Matches do not exist in the team’s vocabulary. I am also saying this because the entire sports of cricket has been monetized in such a crass manner, that cricketers no longer play for the country but play for the money. Otherwise how would explain one of the cricketers making brash statements in Kolkata recently, during the event of a book lunch, complaining about the food served and comparing it with what is dished out in IPL matches. There can be just no comparison between the cricketing association of a state and the IPL. If the cricketer wants better fare to be served to him, I think he might just latch on to IPL only for their life. Such public venting of private feelings is totally uncalled for by a cricketer of the stature and importance of Virendra Sehwag. India is consistently playing badly in Test Matches. This is because cricket has become lucre, and the source of inspiration is not playing well for the country but playing well for money. It is a shame that so much national waste is going to cricket when people in the country cannot earn a square meal a day. Cricketers are demi-gods and everything about cricket is a new found avatar, especially because of IPL and the shorter version of cricket. Gone also are the days when cricket was a gentleman’s game meant not only for the connoiseurs but also in some cases the erudite. A former Captain of England Mike Brearly was not only a graduate of philosophy from one of the leading Universities of the world, but was a voracious reader of serious books.
Now let us look at the sport scene in the country apart from cricket. India’s performance in the recent Olympics and the last Commonwealth Games need not only to be lauded but also amply show that our sports persons in the areas of boxing, wrestling, shooting, even in sprint events have both the talent and the ability. They need further encouragement and some more material benefits. Most of the sports persons come from middle class or lower middle class income groups and it is the bounden duty of the government to follow up on their lives and to further train them. If foreign coaches can be imported for cricket then I fail to understand why the same cannot be the case for other sports. Recently, during the Champions Trophy the Captain of the Indian Hockey Team said that Indian Hockey was on the road to recovery. Will anyone take the words of a Hockey player seriously? I also read that Leander Paes has won about eighteen or nineteen Grand Slam titles. How much do our public and the media talk about it? If we are to look at sports development in the country in a more holistic and concerted manner we have to institute sports academies like that of China to catch them young and then train budding sports men for years. Sports should also be an integral part of education, allying it with vocational education or separately sports education. Then only can we think of a more total development in sports, instead of only singling out cricket and making it opium for the masses. The Cricket Control Board Of India is the riches in the world. They have enough money. Let them continue to do their bit to promote cricket. But let the other sports also take the front seat as they truly deserve and let sports academies be set up for them in a rationalistic manner with an eye for the future. And this future should be on a long term basis.