I was a proud Indian cricket fan until a few weeks ago, with my head held aloft, basking in the success of the team at the World Cup and at various other important tournaments. The sport meant a lot, as did the sportsmen who emphasised values of commitment, trust and belief each time they stepped onto the field.
But two weeks back, the tides changed. A newer, darker face of the sport emerged. It was a face that took everyone back into the past. A past filled with examples of corrupted cricketers. Some of the people around say that the present sleaziness of the sport is far worse than what it was in the past. They argue that the shine of Indian cricket has been tarnished quite badly and that it’ll probably be a long time before Indian cricket manages to raise its head in glory again.
The rot has indeed gotten in far too deep. Belief has been shaken. Almost each match, almost each player and nearly the entire governing organisation has fallen under suspicion. Wherever I look, the newspapers, the radio, the internet and even people gossiping; it’s all about this rot. These elements depict an even gory picture of the sport, making my head reel even more. What’s the truth and what’s a lie, all the lines seem to have blurred now. And I have become a mute spectator, not knowing when or where the next shocker will come from. It’s as if I were passing through some wake, only that it seems never-ending. The pessimism has increased to such proportions, I wonder whether any optimism was seen in the situation to begin with.
As I look around even more, I find that people have become experts overnight. They give lengthy discussions in very high language, pose for the cameras, appear in numerous talk shows and then they pass their verdict as judges and juries. Some of these so-called experts also include those who were involved in the initial rot, nearly 15-years ago. It’s irritating and extremely frustrating for me to see these people talking about the present contamination like the purest of the pure. It is then that the hypocrisy of these people rankles, making me want to voice my thoughts.
To vent out and ask these individuals, how can they stand and talk about it, feigning innocence? What right do they have to even speak about it when they themselves have set such poor examples to fans like me? Why couldn’t they refuse to give in to temptation, thereby setting a standard for the present crop of cricketers to follow and emulate?
My opinions and thoughts, however, are reduced to mere rhetorical queries – no one hears them, except my own conscience. And since my conscience is as compromised as me, the ignorant cricketing fan that I was, the answers of my conscience become quite unacceptable in the world’s eyes.
But ignorant or not, I do know this. My sport has never let me down and it will once again rise to glory. I am aware that in spite of such weak and polluted sportsmen, cricket has given some real gems for me to follow and applaud. And at every stage, be it in the past or now, in the present, such gems will take the sport to once-achieved brilliant heights.
It will take some time for this to happen, I don’t expect that to happen immediately. But I do expect and I do know this – my expectations about the future of the sport will be fulfilled. As my paradise-like cricketing world continues to collapse all around me, it’s this belief that I carry forward for tomorrow, for the future. For the cricketing fan in me, this belief is my light at the end of the darkest tunnels of all times.
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