Cricket - it means a lot to Indians. A national sport, money spinner, emotion multiplier, passion generator. Over the course of last two decades, Cricket became an industry. It became a means to riches. Realtors, Politicians have entered the Cricket space. It turned out to an heaven for the gamblers. Cricketers have become celebrities on par with the Bollywood faces. A cricketer life-style off the ground is under constant attention than the players performance on the field. Quotas arrived into the Cricket governance. Billions of rupees are made or lost when a game is played. In a nutshell, the game which used to be a cool, gentlemen game is played for anything but for the cricket and - a passion that stands for the win, success or challenge. Cricketer have become bigger entities than the cricket game itself. Even when the all time cricketing greats like - Don Bradman or Sir Garfield Sobers were active, they never shadowed the game by their personalities.But things have changed. Every aspect of the Cricket game has became an investment opportunity.
This trend transcended into the cricket fans as well. The spirit of regionalism or the celebrity culture killed the game itself. Today, the fans are more keen to see their favourite Cricketer to break the records than, win the matches for the nation. Pride has come down 10 notches down into selfish individual records. Team spirit is webbed around the celebrities or the selection committees.
Players in a nutshell are not in a position to take the pressure. The days of 1983 world cup challenges and pressures that united one of the weakest teams looks like a mirage. Kapil Dev or Mohinder Amarnath are into history. Gundappa Viswanath one of the all time Indian greats, who won many matches for India - was not a celebrity. If you love Cricket, you will see the match not the statistics. Gavaskar's 1971 West Indies tour performance or subsequent win in England would not need any statistics. It was a sheer joy for anyone who have listened to the running commentary of the times, while India winning the games.
Today, Indians take pride by seeing an Australian poll that would put Sachin Tendulkar above Sir Bradman. But if you look at the list of, the all time greatest cricketing innings played, Sachin would not figure anywhere. Sachin is a great player but, putting Sachin above Bradman is like saying Shahrukh Khan is a better actor than Amitab Bachchan. Bradman record - in 52 tests, 99.94 average and 29 test centuries! If you ever played a cricket on the ground, then you would know what this record means. I call this Bradman limit! Any number of records may crumble in Cricket, including Sachin Tendulkar limit - a double ton in one day international, but not Bradman's 99.94 Test average. Bradman was a "terror" to any bowler of the day (may be even today if he were to come back to the pitch)
Once a die hard cricket fan, over the course of time - I have lost interest in the game. But this year, I am seeing some of the matches that VVS Laxman won for India single handled. Isn't it amazing that some one with severe back spams come to bat at #6 or 7 and then plays with tailenders to win the match for India? Isn't it amazing that, same guys again play with tailenders and rescues India from near defeat at Durban -by hitting a magnificent 96 on a deteriorating pitch, and then let India to a sweet win? The classic 281 at Eden Gardens that would have made biggest celebrity is rated the 6th all time greatest innings in test cricket. Again the celebrity culture under rates this classic player, and puts him behind many in the Dhoni's team. VVS is like Don Bradman for Australians - and a quote goes "the day Laxman retires, Australia declares a national holiday!". Who else in Indian team terrorised any country for more than a decade?
By 2010, Indian Cricket must honestly and truly add VVS Laxman to it's cricketing (on the pitch) all time greats fame list. I am sure, if Sachin Tendulkar deserves a Bharat Ratna, then VVS Laxman would deserve at least a "Padma Shri" for all the cricketing wonders that made every Indian & India proud! And it would be a tribute to one of the Indian Cricketing greats who played Cricket for Cricket
We will know on 26th Jan 2011, if VVS would fit into the Government of India equations.
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