Damn! Another cricket post...

To continue on the barrage of posts for the day, here goes a copy-paste of two emails I wrote, talking about the state of Indian cricket with a group of friends.

Mostly trying-to-be-funny, mostly failing-to-be-funny, mostly harmless.

Post 1:

Discussion string: How to improve the state of Indian cricket, and Subhash Chandra trying to boost the future of Indian cricket...

Well, in all honesty, Subhash Chandra is trying to boost the inflow into his bank account. And doing a mighty good job of it.

To actually make Indian cricket get anywhere, what's needed is for the ranji trophy to be abolished and replaced by a pan-india club level tourney. The clubs could be sponsored by corporates. Pretty much like the Indian super football league ('super' - ah, the hilarity of it all!). Corporates will not be bothered about boosting cricket, any sport for the matter if there is no chance of revenue generation / brand building yadayadayada....

But then, one should look at the unification-of-the-nation aspect of it. Sample this. The moneyed Mysore Sandal Bangalore tyar-sadam XI buying in Sourav Ganguly for a 3-year contract, and Simoco Kolkata Bagher bachcha XI branding him a traitor for defecting a-la Luis Figo... you remember that, na, guys..... And after a few super innings by the prince of Kohl-koota, when we hear paeans about 'namma maga Ganguly-anna' in the Bangalore buses.......... Ah, that is when we will really become one country.

..........................

Discussion string: On a more serious note....

On the holy cow syndrome - completely in agreement. But that's the equivalent of world peace. Hero worshipping, in India, will never stop. It will not change. Cannot really blame the countrymen (and women) for something which is so deeply embedded in their psyche. We are a nation of hero-worshippers, a nation of hierarchy. Be it politics, sports, cinema, everywhere, in every sphere. So there's our own dad's army for the world cup, and assorted Rajani-appa Rajkumar &c, and gerontocracy.

Funnily, we are equally likely to bring down our failed gods. And poor Dhoni's house gets destroyed.

Performance back home - I disagree. All countries make tracks to suit their team. It is called home advantage. If anything, looking at the playing tracks on offer in the windies (slow turners, small grounds where mishits go for six), we should have done well, really.

Selective amnesia - A manifestation of point 1. Agree.

So ok, why am I blabbering and cracking sidey (which, clarification for the highbrows, would mean inane) jokes? Do I have anything sensible to offer? Maybe. here's reason, at least in my book.

Cricket is a team game, and increasingly, a power game. Specifically, one day cricket.

Indians are traditionally bad team players. Indians, traditionally, are on an average, bad at power sports. So here's story. We will, unless a miracle of some sorts happen, not win anything major in cricket. In one day cricket. Ever again.

Test matches are, yet, not as much a power game as one day matches. One can play controlled innings and plot and plan the opposition out. Check the performance of india in test vs. one-day cricket in the last 10-15 years. Home and away. You get your answer. I got mine that way.

As I said, mostly harmless.