Indian Political League

As he wiped the sweat off his brow, the naked truth struck him with tremendous force. It was the last ball of the last over. The hopes of the entire team were pinned on him. Looking across he saw an equally nervous guy standing in front of the wicket. With the bat tightly clutched in his hands, he was trying to gather all his cricketing knowledge for this last ball. Finally the moment came when the ball left the hands of the bowler and made contact with the bat. The batsman stuck it hard and it went on to make the winning run. The match was over.

The winners rejoiced every moment of their glory. The trophy was theirs and only theirs to keep. The losing team went back to the dressing room, dejected and disheartened. All this and more, in a day of cricket.

As an audience, all we see is the drama that unfolds on the field. The highs and the lows, the sixes and the fours, the tons and the top guns, the outs and the occasional doubts. Do we ever stop to think about what goes behind this theatrical display or how is it that the actors of the play are selected?

In a country as big as ours, there's no end to the amount of the talent available. May it be the good old ‘gali cricket' or the sophisticated ‘under-something' team; budding cricketers are present in hordes. In spite of so much talent, only a few make it to the national team. Some due to their talent, some through political contacts and some purely by luck. The rest just fade into oblivion. The final team is a mix of the superstars, underdogs and absolute non- performers. Is that the best combination or can it be bettered?

If only we could open our eyes to the talent present in the villages, town and even our own neighborhoods'. So many young children play this game religiously without any proper gear or training. Few of them are so good that they can give our so called stars a run for their money. Then why do we not give them a chance? Why do we not bring them out of the darkness and show them new horizons?

Is it the lack of money, infrastructure and interest or is it the influence of the influential? The answer is both.

In India, cricket is the only common religion. All cricketers are demigods and all Indians are fanatics. The country rejoices and mourns every victory and loss. Still the amount of training and development that goes into the sport is nothing compared to what it should be. The money allotted to the sports upkeep goes underutilized and the lack of adequate infrastructure makes the situation worse. All officials involved are either busy in filling their pockets or are busy pushing their candidates. No one cares about what happens to the quality of the game or the team.

A sport that was originally played with a bat and a ball has now become a political match. The amount of political backing makes you a team member and not your cricketing skills. So many good players do not make it to the crease because there's always someone else with better contacts. All decisions regarding the team and the players are taken in a boardroom with a few top notches' calling all the shots .The credentials of the players, all their hard work and their efforts are tossed and trashed. If someone fails to perform once, he's thrown out unless he has a godfather sitting and making the decisions. All the acts of the bosses are termed as strategies but what we do not realize that the strategy fails most of the times. People, who have never even picked up a bat in their entire life, make the critical decisions of who stays in the team and who makes their exit. Actors become our sports ministers and the original sportsmen are just pushed down the drain. Everyone wants an instant superstar. But a superstar is also not born overnight. Until and unless everybody is not given a fair opportunity to prove their mettle, how can we judge them?

No one realizes that we are facing stiff competition from the world. Our team represents our country. It's our national honor that's at stake and we need to do all that we can to preserve and protect it. Backstabbing, cheating and undercutting each other will not help our cause in any way .Only when we are united and have our priorities sorted, we can do justice to the efforts of all. A sport should be kept as a sport. Politics has the whole parliament devoted to it.

Now with the common wealth games so near, we as a nation need to clean up our act. We need to put our best foot forward and that can only happen when we give the truly deserving an honest chance. The only question remains is that ‘are we ready to do it?'