Adrenalin, Cheer Girls, IPL and All that is Not Cricket..

As we knew it !

Cricket was designed as a game to engage and entertain the families of the elite bureaucrats of the former British Empire. It survived Two World Wars (so what ?) and flourished in some of the former English colonies. Despite having a 200 years of legacy, decent money and glamour (till 2008) and yet only handful of countries decided to take it seriously. Going by shear numbers its safe to assume that almost 20% of the world population simply loves this game, and its considered not second to religion. But to put the numbers in perspective only 8 teams (countries) have been playing it consistently, seriously for more then 20 years now.

And then 2008 happened ! Yes, it survived the two world wars but not the year 2008.

Kim Raikkonen tops the charts of all time highest paid sportsperson per game ($2.94M/ game), whereas Alex Rodriguez tops the list for signing the world's largest sports contract ($275M contract for a period of 10 years) to date.

The most respected, successful of the football, baseball, basketball players play for around 30-60 minutes in a game, few games in a season and make millions. But, and this one will be a big but, mind you, what if they are asked to play the full game and all the games and all the series and tournaments possible in a year?

Remember the age old adage, Goose that Lays the Golden Egg ! So lets kill that goose and take out all the eggs at a time. Perhaps a 8 years old will tell us that the Goose the will die, but we grown ups have grown past the wisdom of age old adage, especially the ones sitting in cricketing councils, the die-hard fans and the business savvy czars and tycoons !

Usain Bolt can do a 100 in 9.58 (10.43841/sec) seconds but Patrick Makau could do a 42195 in 7418 seconds (5.688191/sec), so does that mean Bolt can run a marathon in half the time of current world record, if he wants to ? All the forms of sports have understood that its one thing to cross English channel and its totally different to swim a 50 mtr breast stroke. I hope as the cricket spreads it reach to more continents, as more and more league culture develop sponsors and board members will focus on nurturing and appointing three sets of specialists for the three prevalent forms of the game.

Cricket is a gentlemen's game, so lets not reduce it to a tug of war between the three formats !

No denying the obvious that IPL has added several new dimensions, adrenalin, cheer girls, 10x more money for 10x more players, benefiting the game in general, certainly a good beginning in a right direction.

So lets not kill the goose. We should not expect a cricketer to run a marathon in the fastest possible time and should not procrastinate a marathon runner for not being able to run a mile the fastest. Instead of putting all the monies in the factory which produces cricketers only on the fertile soil of Indian sub-continent, lets try to develop at least 29 good international cricket playing teams, so that I can no longer use my fingers.

Lets raise the ceiling because, there certainly is enough room to generate 10x more money then currently under consideration. IPL has certainly added cheer girls and several powerful aspects to the game, but both the crickets and those powerful people are trying to kill the goose, so as to make all the hay while the sun shines.

Dear Sponsors, Crickets boards, Trust me there will be a tomorrow and the Sun will shine all over again !!

Leander Paes - An Unsung Sports Icon !

A nation starved of Icons with whom the youth of country can relate to, fortunately I am happy about the unsung 'ness' which real, worthy Icons face. Leander Paes is one of them.

He become the first Indian to win under 18 Wimbledon tennis tournament. Later on he become first Indians to win a medal in individual sports category in Olympics, by winning much coveted Bronze medal in Single's category 1996 Atlanta Olympics. I remember watching him play against Andre Agassi with so much passion and zeal in that awesome semi-final. Aggassi was in top form then and though he won the match, the world saw what a true fighter Leander was and will remain.  Fortunately Abhinav Bindra won a Olympic Gold for us later on. These 2 medals still remains our cherished and only Olympic medals in any individual sports.

Leander Paes chose to focus on his game, his fitness and stayed away from media, especially the Television advertising. His focus and commitment paid of well as he went on to become one of the most successful Doubles Tennis player of the world. Leander had the opportunity to rake in multi-million dollars by endorsing several brands, attending award functions or by working in movies etc. However he seems to be contend with the prize money and chose to rather use his time to practice, play and win more games, tournaments, one after the other without making any headlines ever except for his achievements in sports.

What I have learned from Leander is that one can remain focused on his work and yet can earn good money, bring name and fame for the nation and for himself. I learned that its not necessary that people around you and the masses will appreciate you for your good work but still you can do what you like and excel at it.

It amuses me that despite of having such a vast pool of raw talent, we as a nation is not able to do much at truly international level ( and I dont think Common Wealth Games are truly international, with all due respect). Once again, who's to be blamed at. System? Government has done absolutely nothing to develop decent sporting infrastructure at the grass-root level. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened to Indian cricket if  exceptional players like Kapil Dev, Mohindar Amarnath and Gavaskar never happened to India. The first and second generation of Indian cricketers developed on their own, drawing inspiration from one another, without any support from government or authorities. If 1983 never happened perhaps 2011 might not have happened either.

The nation became obsessed with Cricket (a sport which is played by practically 8 countries of the world) because we had no other option. Period.

Whatever Leander Paes achieved is exceptional. He achieved it on its own. Our media never cared to write too much about him and that actually worked to his advantage. Because he achieved everything on his own, his success cant be easily replicated and scaled to develop more committed, hard working players like him.

In past 5 years, Cricket grew big because Corporate World started riding on the back of Crickets to promote their brands. Leander Paes is exceptional and not everybody can be like him. So several small town boys, who became popular overnight started riding the euphoria on the back and shoulders of some exceptional 3rd generation players such as Sachin, Kumble, Dravid. The sheer number of talented cricketers available increased, because the money involved, the glamour, name and fame increased all of a sudden, especially after the IPL booom !

Leander Paes personified consistency, he never stopped just because he won an Olympic medal or led India to World Group in Davis Cup.

Sports is not just about entertainment and business as it seems to be reduced to currently in India. Sports is celebration of human spirit and raw capabilities. Technology has made our lives comfortable and will continue to do so. Sports field is where we realize that like other animals, we too are made of flesh and veins. Our blood also boils and heart can afford to skip few beats. When a sportsmen is in a field, doing what he's supposed to be doing, nothing matters except him. No matter how much money is riding on his back nothing but only his performance can raise him above the rest, amidst the best.

We as a nation definitely can do much much better then what we currently think of. Campaigns run by individuals, organizations such Olympic Gold Quest and NDTV Marks for Sports have raised awareness, provided some ray of hope to other sportsmen and women to pursue their passion, learn and excel in sport of their choice.

Still lot more is required, not just from government but from each and every parent. Lets not stop our kids from becoming Saina Nehwal or Leander Paes of tomorrow !

Who the hell laid that Golden Egg ?

Nobody has an iota of doubt that a lot needs to be done to establish India as a sporting nation at an international level.

The Golden Egg is very rare, so it doesn't Exist !

But, with all due respect, I dont agree with PT Usha's latest comments about advent of Formula 1 in India. She pioneered the cause of Women athletics in India, motivated and trained several young women to dream big despite not much support from government or their own family members. I would completely agree with her if she says that Athelitcs is not gaining the popularity it deserved because the country lacks infrastructure, coaches and constant funding etc. But what's the point in bashing one form of sport which happens to be one of the most popular sport of the world, to promote another.

The Golden Egg fell from the table, so lets kill the Goose !

What has all the T20 cricket bashers gained, the T20 cricket evolved, improved, became more popular, offered opportunity to make money, gain respect to several young cricketers who could never make it to national team, offered employment to 100s of 1000s of people. On contrary I feel, T20 forced teams and coaches to think different, try something new and thus lot of experiments were done, some went successful some not, but ultimately the game evolved. Some cricketers got injured while playing T20, so lets ban T20

The Golden Egg was actually Silver !

Lot of mediocre player get chance to play, perform, learn and earn when a sports become popular. Some remain mediocre and some rise. That's what happens in every walk of life. I dont blame the body shopping IT companies for not pioneering the search engine algorithms. Saina Nehwal is not PT Usha and I don't blame Deepika Padukone for choosing modeling over sport or for that matter Sania Mirza for choosing sport over modelling. The not so famous medium pacer Salil Ankola became a not so famous TV artist, so should BCCI ban TV channels in India now?

  I will Kill your Goose who lays Golden Egg, because I don't have one !

What is the definition of a Sports? Is sports only about physical capabilities? I think Formual 1 like any other sports requires physical fitness, mental stamina, rigorous training, planning, commitment, passion to succeed amidst intense competition. Behind every successful Formula 1 sportsmen is a huge team of 15-30 people which includes highly qualified engineers and psychologists. Not all the successful Formula One world champions were born in rich families. They became rich as a consequence of the success and name they achieved by excelling in their sport. In the countries where Athletics is big sport, the Formula One driver or the NBA player makes more money in general. So ?