Indian Cricket: Just Not Hungry
By Bikram Vohra
It is not that India lost to England Sunday that bugs me though I am not exactly over the moon about being kicked out of the tournament.
What is going up my nose is the attitude that the Dhoni led tigers(??????) brought to the field. They were sulky, indifferent, casual and you could visibly notice their steadfast cockiness as they tumbled in an untidy heap from the pedestal on which we, the fans, the media and the officials place them so easily…and with such total dedication. Arrogance in our cricketers is fed and nourished on a rich diet of money, money and more money not to lightly forget the drip of adulation that goes with the enormous wealth. It is such a heady mix they even forget to smile.
Did anyone see a more pathetic lot than this bunch on Sunday? Talk about putting a foot wrong, Master Yuv Raj symbolized the whole approach when he was stumped with his foot delicately poised five inches above the ground. Go man, go.
I don’t know if you watched the same match I did (hopefully technology showed a better game on LCD screens, at least skinnier despair) but I did not spot a soupcon of passion, interest in winning or commitment beyond a sort of desultory, loping romp in the park like so what’s the big deal?
There probably isn’t. When you are fat and sleek like Casca and your bank manager sucks up to you (unlike mine who just sneers) where is the hunger? There is none. That blubber covers up the desire to win, it is just another boring day at the office.
You and I both know it is not the three runs. They were never going to be covered. It could have been thirty runs, the score was academic.
We were just not in the picture. Like shy brides we did not want to be in the picture. We have so much on our minds. Like opening restaurants, starting real estate companies, investing our wealth, charging for appearances, dating film stars, oh, and occasionally strutting about the cricket field.
And now that there will be no parades and no ridiculous cavalcades (remember the horror of 2007 when we won and what they did to Mumbai?) messing up our cities and mayors and ministers, board babus and those perennial hangers on doing the dirty and disappearing what say we finally bring a little perspective into the game and wise up to the fact that we are not the bee’s knees and a little comeuppance is a healthy thing.
Actually, for a team that didn’t want to win, why should they have?
Bikram Vohra is a former editor of The Khaleej Times and The Bahrain Tribune, two of the leading news papers in the Middle East.
It is not that India lost to England Sunday that bugs me though I am not exactly over the moon about being kicked out of the tournament.
What is going up my nose is the attitude that the Dhoni led tigers(??????) brought to the field. They were sulky, indifferent, casual and you could visibly notice their steadfast cockiness as they tumbled in an untidy heap from the pedestal on which we, the fans, the media and the officials place them so easily…and with such total dedication. Arrogance in our cricketers is fed and nourished on a rich diet of money, money and more money not to lightly forget the drip of adulation that goes with the enormous wealth. It is such a heady mix they even forget to smile.
Did anyone see a more pathetic lot than this bunch on Sunday? Talk about putting a foot wrong, Master Yuv Raj symbolized the whole approach when he was stumped with his foot delicately poised five inches above the ground. Go man, go.
I don’t know if you watched the same match I did (hopefully technology showed a better game on LCD screens, at least skinnier despair) but I did not spot a soupcon of passion, interest in winning or commitment beyond a sort of desultory, loping romp in the park like so what’s the big deal?
There probably isn’t. When you are fat and sleek like Casca and your bank manager sucks up to you (unlike mine who just sneers) where is the hunger? There is none. That blubber covers up the desire to win, it is just another boring day at the office.
You and I both know it is not the three runs. They were never going to be covered. It could have been thirty runs, the score was academic.
We were just not in the picture. Like shy brides we did not want to be in the picture. We have so much on our minds. Like opening restaurants, starting real estate companies, investing our wealth, charging for appearances, dating film stars, oh, and occasionally strutting about the cricket field.
And now that there will be no parades and no ridiculous cavalcades (remember the horror of 2007 when we won and what they did to Mumbai?) messing up our cities and mayors and ministers, board babus and those perennial hangers on doing the dirty and disappearing what say we finally bring a little perspective into the game and wise up to the fact that we are not the bee’s knees and a little comeuppance is a healthy thing.
Actually, for a team that didn’t want to win, why should they have?
Bikram Vohra is a former editor of The Khaleej Times and The Bahrain Tribune, two of the leading news papers in the Middle East.
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