Old traditions, dogmas died giving place to new ones. The hated ‘apartheid’ went out, South Africa returned to the fold making everyone happy including the South Africans who took it out on India beating us on every possible occasion.
It is October. A rainless October after a rainless September. There is no smell of the departing monsoon. But who cares about the absent fragrance? Cricket is already knocking on our doors. The Indian team played abroad without much success. Now we are hosting the South Africa champions in all three formats of the game .With so much cricket being played round the clock, it is hard to keep track on who is winning, losing or down with all sorts of injuries and ailments.
The sport faces a lot of competition. Should we, or should we not eat beef? Cricketers are silent on the issue. Very diplomatically they are playing safe, keeping their executive meat haunts to themselves. Keep it up boys; there is enough happening on the cricket front without getting embroiled in the steak and onions of cricket. The powerful South African tourists are least bothered, their diet is fine and thanks to IPL, many of their stalwarts have acquired a taste for rogan josh, rava idli and a wide choice in vegetarian cuisine pioneered by Srini the Great!
Decades back, Indian cricket was weak. Batters ran away from fast bowling, there was no money in the game and defeat after defeat did not bother us. There was nothing to be ashamed of losing one-day matches by the dozen. Test matches were only those that were counted seriously. Muslims and Hindus played cricket without coming to blows over what they ate for lunch or during tea breaks. The players accepted that the former princes alone could become captains and lead the Indian teams, not with success but lots of flair (the flair being packed in 36 suitcases). We played cricket like this for decades. Occasionally upstarts like Lala Amarnath tried to upset this cosy arrangement but had to cool their heels outside the ground.
We had another cricketing nation, Pakistan, born after a bloody partition. Within years, this upstart cricket nation upset India without any consideration for our great culture and tradition and to this day we are yet to decide who is superior, India or Pakistan? Perhaps, once the Kashmir issue is solved, we shall solve this ticklish issue. Pakistan often complained of lack of practice in international cricket but tried to make it up in international affairs by raising the Kashmir issue at every possible international forum!
Skipping several decades where nothing of note happened, Indian and Pak cricket teams made steady progress— winning some, losing some and drawing the most. Both the nations developed a special affinity for the ‘draw’ which percolated to the lower forms. The drawn match remained a highly popular form of result. India and Pakistan, during their long association, played a record number of drawn matches which is not likely to be beaten during the next two centuries.
All over the world, cricket made remarkable progress. Old traditions, dogmas died giving place to new ones. The hated ‘apartheid’ went out, South Africa returned to the fold making everyone happy including the South Africans who took it out on India beating us on every possible occasion. Even now, the two teams are engaged in a titanic triangular series of all sorts which the visitors are favoured to win. But the Proteas took their revenge, teaching Indian players led by Mohd Azharuddin in the noble arts of match fixing and what not. Occasionally, the results boomeranged. The Proteas lost their captain Hansie Cronje (suspended for life and then died in a fatal air crash). Cheating never pays, chanted some Indian players like Ajay Jadeja .
Indian cricket acquired expertise in these nefarious activities but organisations like BCCI seldom bothered because so many new avenues were open for the enterprising players. The IPL was a quickie method to make money which made millionaires of former, current and future players. The IPL auctions showered money on the players-even on those like batsman Suresh Raina, whose tendency to run away from medium pace bowling did not prevent him from acquiring millions. M S Dhoni played helicopter shots and stopped only after being sued by Westland and other flying birds. He also became a flying symbol of the Indian Airforce.
IPL turned out to be a bonanza for Indian cricket though it was alleged it would send dozens of the Indian stars to jail for all sorts of alleged criminal, semi-criminal activities. The BCCI was allegedly involved in many of these scrapes which were discussed loudly on ‘Times Now’ TV channel and its hard-of-hearing anchorman Arnab Goswami.
It may take some time, say, some two months or so, for New BCCI President Shashank Manohar to settle down and take severe action against Srini and his IPL Sancho Panza Sundar Raman. Hopefully, with Srini and Sundar Raman tamed, Indian cricket will undergo many changes. Bowing graciously to the requests of Srini, the BCCI will create a new post for him, the Director of Temples. Shunning forever his suit, boot and coat, Srini will permanently switch over to a transparent dhoti and towel to cover the upper part of his body. The temple Prasad twice a day is all what he would consume.
The new air of piety goes well with Indian cricket. Money and greed, the two major evils of Indian cricket are now almost eliminated. Take the case of former head of the commentary team, Sunil Gavaskar. He gave up all his designations in Indian cricket and occasionally appears in the Box in spotless Matunga dhoti and ‘khadi’ angavastram, occasionally rendering his cricket commentary in Marathi bhajans.
Harsha Bhogle has given up his machine gun style of commentary after a herd of cows got scared and created a stampede. Ravi Shastri is no longer the director for anything. He is quitting cricket commentary and all cricket activities from January 1, 2017.
