If Pakistan's exit from the 2007 WC was shocking then the fate that befell their coach was even more shocking. May his soul rest in peace. He did a wonderful job with the Proteas, his tenure with Pak was kinda mixed but that was more due to the internal politics within Pak Cricket than Bob's coaching.
Someone had commented on another blog about India and Pak going home early and starting a one day series. That would be truly comical but the reality is that ICC's worldcup would lose half its viewership. The news is that if India also exits the worldcup corporates would stand to lose Rs.250 Cr. Now can we say that some fixing would indeed happen ? Or may be it might seem too obvious so it may not happen and India may indeed get out and the corporates have to eat up the loss.
I was really surprised that I could only see advts of Hero Honda and LG dominating the field. I'm pretty sure no one outside India or may be the subcontinent would know about Hero Honda, Honda may be but not Hero Honda.
Some bloggers had commented about irresponsible Indian youth damaging the stars property in India. I'm not sure I agree with the bloggers. Emotion is part and parcel of Indian society. Losing against Bangladesh is ignomity that ordinary people cannot digest. The cricketers think that they hit a century in a match and are fully deserving a plot of land and a palatial house on it. How many of the fans can really afford this ? But it is exactly these fans that make the BCCI and cricketers see money. We make heroes out of them when they perform and villify them when they don't. There's nothing wrong in it. If the cricketers know they are out of form why can't they step out of the team by themselves. I was aghast at seeing Ajit Agarkar in the team. I think may be the fans should be targetting the selectors home.
Now if the same had been a premeditated distruction then that constitutes crime. Not everyone can be Brutus and by the way Brutus never achieved anything. Those who have emotions are the ones who will strive and achieve things closer to heart. Unfortunately the way India played that emotion was utilized negatively. I will never blame the poor fan, after all he wanted India to win against Bangladesh. But what he did not realize was that the Banga Bandhus played for the country where as the Indian elephants have already had their Scorpios and BMWs and Plots and houses not to mention all the advts money and don't have a need for anything else.
And then there will be some who will point to the teams performance against Bermuda. Was it a blemishless performance ? Heck no. Sehwag started shakily was dropped a couple of times. This Uthappa guy is only good for eating oothappams I guess. I would like to see his Ranji records. Dada also struggled against the Bermudans initially. The amount of inspiration and enthusiasm I saw on Leverock's face was more than the collective inspiration of the Indian team. I'll leave my thoughts there. Ofcourse my position is that India should not be playing Cricket at all. That'll be a seperate discussion.
Labels: Cricket, Worldcup
