This review of mine is not about analysing the Indian cricket team, instead it is analysing the Indian cricket team’s fans. One might find this offensive, one might on the other hand find it delightful,
but noone can take away my right that is of expressing myself, which I’m about to do.
Now, let’s get back to a point.
Us fans are all about critics and trying to be over-smart. Such is the pathetic mentality of many fans that they will try and speak anything they can possibly manage, so that they can be different and be cool. If I’m not mistaken, there was an uproar over the whole of India during the later part of Sourav Ganguly’s reign as the captain, demanding that he needs to be sacked immediately. The only hot topic during that time was regarding Ganguly’s pathetic form, and that he needs to be sacked by any means possible. Even the Indian media was all about burying Ganguly each and every time. Now since that have been taken care of by the BCCI, the same people from the past demanding him to be sacked are now demanding his inclusion into the team. The same media spitting on Ganguly are now painting him as the deserving guy, and are disputing on Ganguly’s removal. I have nothing to say, you can understand this mess on your own.
Apart from that, we have Rahul Dravid leading our Indian team. This is the same Rahul Dravid whom the fans wanted to lead India after witnessing Ganguly’s pathetic form for about the last three years before being sacked. Now, those same people are criticizing him of playing politics and stabbing Ganguly on the back. May I know the logic behind this ? What was Rahul Dravid supposed to do ? Was he supposed to retire from cricket as soon as Ganguly was sacked ? Or was he supposed to refuse taking over the captaincy of the Indian team ? Or maybe riot against the BCCI that the whole of the current team would stop playing if Ganguly isn’t recalled back into the team ? It’s nothing against Ganguly, but is a good captain defined by being arrogant and creating controvercy ? I’m not bad-mouthing Ganguly, I’m trying to find out the points for which Dravid is being blamed. Agreed that Dravid might not be a good captain when compared with Ganguly, but then again what is Dravid supposed to do ? Once again the fans have been contradicting their own decisions.
Next up is blaming individuals. Sachin Tendulkar is one name which is being tarnished by the fans. Is he a match winner or not ?
I would like to ask, what’s the definition of a match winner ? Are match winners those players who take guard over the last 10-15 overs of their innings and guide their team to victory ? No, match winners are those who build the platform for their team so that the rest of the players can capitalize and secure the win for their team. Is it Tendulkar’s fault that after giving numerous fluent starts for India, the rest of the players failed to capitalize, or the bowlers failed to perform as expected, and ultimately the team ended up losing ? Is it Tendulkar’s fault that after scoring a century and the Indian team capitalizing on it to put up a good score, the opposition team played better than the whole of the Indian team and finally managed to defeat India ? Does that makes Tendulkar not a match winner ?
When the whole team in the past failed to perform, Tendulkar on many occations scored centuries and valuable knocks, in the process putting India to a decent total .... but India ultiamtely lost many such matches ? Is that Tendulkar’s fault that India lost ? Can the critics name any opener from the International world of cricket who have in numerous matches scored from the first over till the last winning runs for their team ? No, nobody !!
Andrew Symonds, Ricky ponting, Inzaman Ul Haq are often regarded as match winners ..... but they have world class bowlers like Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee, Shane Warne, Jason Gillespie and from Pakistan say bowlers from the past like Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, ,Shoaib Akhtar, Saqlain Mushtaq, who are good enough to tear apart any batting line up in the world. Sachin Tendulkar is the only guy whom the entire Indian team depended upon untill about 2001. The whole team was weak as anything, and the Indian wins revolved around Tendulkar. That makes Tendulkar way greater than a match winner.
Was it Tendulkar’s fault that he was the only guy who was capable of scoring brilliantly among the weak indian side ? India lost many matches where Tendulkar performed brilliantly, because the other players failed to contribute and the bowlers under-performed. It’s funny that the jewel named ’TENDULKAR’ is now being blamed for those losses.
IT’S REALLY SAD THAT MANY PEOPLE DON’T EVEN UNDERSTAND WHAT TENDULKAR HAVE DONE FOR US FOR ALL THESE YEARS.