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[Libran]

Since the WC debacle, we have been reading a lot of stuff on Indian cricket, cartoons depicting players in different garbs, SMS jokes being flashed around...

All this is in a sense dark humour..humor to amuse ourselves and rid self of the disappointment..
But, in reality, are we doing the right things...these guys need a break...no one goes into any game with the intention of losing...it happens..we have seen a 42 allout to a last ball six defeat to the mishap of 2003 final...and we have seen the Natwest final, the 83 WC, the 87 allout of Pakistan in Sharjah and the 8 games in a row wins in WC 2003...we have seen the ups...the downs...

And as always....let's not kick anyone when they are down....we need some changes ...let us revolve our discussions around that.....

[abhinav]

Ravi,
Can not help applauding..time for us to learn our lessons and look at the future. The fact that india does not appear in the business end of the tournament hurts and I still wish it was just a nightmare that I will wake out of, but then the fact is that we had a couple of very bad games, our strategy was not suited to the game, our team selection was flawed and most of all, we need to understand that the game has moved on from being a connoiseurs delight to becoming a proffessional sport.

their is no point in killing our team..literally or otherwise, I am sure they had the right intentions.

[caught and bowled]

First up, I am not trying to defend the deplorable stone throwings, effigy burnings etc. at all. Having said that though, Ravi you need to keep things in perspective and ask why are people reacting this way? You are right, no one goes on the field with the intention of losing. However, is that enough.? Modern sport is all about  a contest and I think all that the Indian fans wanted to see was a good contest. When that didn't happen, they felt disappointed and let down.

You cant win all the contests all the time, so there are bound to be defeats. I think what rankles the average Indian fan is the abject surrender, just giving in without a fight. The Yuvraj yawn in the Bangala match was grotesquely symbolic in this context because it seemed to imply (wrongly) how disinterested the main protagonists could be.

Can you imagine a Dhoni scoring two 0s or a Tendulkar scoring a 7 and 0 or a Sehwag throwing it away when he was all set and knowing fully well that a lot depended on him, or  Dravid and a Yuvraj being involved in one of the stupidest runouts or a 22 year old Munaf acting like the " Gateway of India " and letting 4s thru is legs?? Where was the fight?

If you want to see what a fight is, look at the way SA batted against the mountain of 377 in spite of Kalis. It was a stroke of bad luck that Smith started cramping otherwise anything could have happened. The way Kaif and Yuvraj played at 125/5 in the Natwest, that was a fight.

Another reason for the extreme reactions of the fans is the general helplessness and their inability to change things in Indian Cricket. The administrators give too hoots about the paying public, the Cricketers appear to be doing the same. Why, even the TV companies don’t show complete shots of ball being bowled or a stroke reaching the boundary or a catch being completed. The average fan seems to be the last one on everyone's agenda. So how does he make himself heard?

Also, while judging the peoples reaction don’t underestimate the role of the media who, in their fight for viewership, first built up the expectations and then are trashing the Cricketers reputations by stage managing effigy burnings etc. and showing inflammatory clips round the clock.

You talk of 42  all out. That’s interesting. After the 1971 win against WI and England there was a huge Cricket bat erected in Indore and after the 42 all out in 74 the disgruntled fans smeared black tar on it as a mark of protest. There were no protests after the last ball Six resulting in a loss. There were no protests after the final loss in WC2003...

[sudzz]

First up, I am not trying to defend the deplorable stone throwings, effigy burnings etc. at all. Having said that though, Ravi you need to keep things in perspective and ask why are people reacting this way? You are right, no one goes on the field with the intention of losing. However, is that enough.? Modern sport is all about  a contest and I think all that the Indian fans wanted to see was a good contest. When that didn't happen, they felt disappointed and let down.

You cant win all the contests all the time, so there are bound to be defeats. I think what rankles the average Indian fan is the abject surrender, just giving in without a fight. The Yuvraj yawn in the Bangala match was grotesquely symbolic in this context because it seemed to imply (wrongly) how disinterested the main protagonists could be.

Can you imagine a Dhoni scoring two 0s or a Tendulkar scoring a 7 and 0 or a Sehwag throwing it away when he is all set and knowing fully well that a lot depended on him, or  Dravid and a Yuvraj being involved in one of the stupidest runouts or a 22 year old Munaf acting like the " Gateway of India " and letting 4s thru is legs?? Where was the fight?

If you want to see what a fight is, look at the way SA batted against the mountain of 377 in spite of Kalis. It was a stroke of bad luck that Smith started cramping otherwise anything could have happened. The way Kaif and Yuvraj played at 125/5 in the Natwest, that was a fight.

Another reason for the extreme reactions of the fans is the general helplessness and their inability to change things in Indian Cricket. The administrators give too hoots about the paying public, the Cricketers appear to be doing the same. Why, even the TV companies don’t show complete shots of ball being bowled or a stroke reaching the boundary or a catch being completed. The average fan seems to be the last one on everyone's agenda. So how does he make himself heard?

Also, while judging the peoples reaction don’t underestimate the role of the media who, in their, fight for viewership, first built up the expectations and then are trashing the Cricketers reputations by stage managing effigy burnings etc. and showing inflammatory clips round the clock.

You talk of 42  all out. That’s interesting. After the 1971 win against WI and England there was a huge Cricket bat erected in Indore and after the 42 all out in 74 the disgruntled fans applied black tar on it as a mark of protest. There were no protests after the last ball Six resulting in a loss. There were no protests after the final loss in WC2003

Brilliant post, I totally agree.

We give fans much less credit than they are due, these are the very same fans that take pains to know your birthdays, send you flowers and gifts even though they have no clue of who you are. These are the same people that line up in queues outside the stadium 4 hours before the game and sit on concrete blocks with no room to even urinate for 8 hours of the day.

These are people who gladly give up a days wage to see their heros win and mope when they lose after a fight.

They are also the ones that will enshrine you and adulate you as if you are god's answer to cricket but when you give up and dont even attempt to put up a fight then they dont let you off lightly.

So the players cant have it just one way and take all the support alone...ask the players would they prefer playing in NZ with empty stadiums or in India with 30-40 fans howling their support.