The manner in which we react to any Sachin-baiting is to a large extent a factor of our utter lack of sporting heroes. In a country that doesn’t like playing any sport – and which has a deep disdain and fear especially of contact sports (our idea of fun, unlike in the west or even large parts of Asia, is eating samosas and namkeen in front of the TV on weekends) – cricket has convincingly overshadowed everything else. We have lost our hockey prowess, we languish at the bottom of the FIFA heap as far as football is concerned (at number 147 in the world!), and aren’t good at much else, whether it is tennis, volleyball, basketball, wrestling or shooting. No wonder a nation of 1.2 billion erupts in collective ecstasy when an entire Olympic squad returns with one gold medal. All our stars, superstars and sporting gods, like Sachin, are therefore from the world of cricket. Because that’s all we have. That’s where all our sporting pride is concentrated. Of course, it seems to be working beautifully for our politicians, administrators, advertisers, money bags who can invest in sports, and for showbiz that can talk about and romanticize it. And why not. The numbers are compelling. The Economist says that as many as 400 million Indians will watch the national cricket team during a high stakes game. The IPL’s brand value is pegged at $ 3 billion. “In contrast, around 6m Indians watched the final of the (football) World Cup in 2010, held in South Africa. The average crowd for India’s top professional football league, the I-League, is around 4,000 and most of its teams face financial hardship.” Every once is a while you’ll get to hear horror stories about the way our non-cricketing sportspersons are treated – washing dishes after their coaches have entertained their guests, running errands for them, and sometimes subjecting themselves to physical and verbal abuse. Not so the cricketers. Virat Kohli gets to date Anushka Sharma and do shampoo ads on TV.
Posted on: Sat, 05 Jul 2014 11:12:42 +0000