Leaving out the rest ?

The World Cup ended amidst a lot of fanfare and even before the celebrations could peak, something of an after hour party has hit the roads in the form of Indian Premier League, edition four, and as always one could hear the voices of the sceptics and the purists degrading the format. They do not want IPL, for them it is a kind of black magic, in its most mysterious of all forms, making the sport of cricket shallow from inside.

Well, that could be termed as exaggeration but still, similar sentiments have been echoed often, since T20 hit the mainstream. The old phrase of “change being a constant” governs everything in the big sphere that we live in and it applies to cricket as well. 

Thinking beyond T20 cricket, one would find changes, revolutionary changes in the way cricket was perceived, the way cricket was played. Not going really far or trying to stretch any kind of imagination, West Indies emerging as world champs was a change. Kerry Packer and his rebel league was a change. India, the underdogs winning the World Cup was a change so was Sri Lanka’s victory. John Davison could be added to this list as well. 

This World Cup also witnessed such changes, primarily being the shift of power. Now the Asian subcontinent has the bragging rights in world cricket. Ireland was a change or rather it was a forceful change envisaged by the spirit of the game, the nature of the game. 

But alas, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has taken the decision to make the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand a closed tournament, involving the nine Test playing nations plus Zimbabwe. It has left the future of cricket in associated nations hanging in balance.

Ireland is the one which is most affected, most hurt and rightly so most outraged by this decision. A country that has made considerable strides as a cricketing force in the recent past must have thought of a bright future for itself. But what greeted them for their success in the World Cup were closed doors. 

They have beaten Pakistan, Bangladesh and most recently, and famously, their “mentors” England.

The decision has been taken on the pretext of the World Cup, in its current format, being too long and complex. And to some extent, it does hold true, with major part of the round robin league matches of the 2011 World Cup being played out as dead rubber.

But the decision in itself is a big contradiction. The ICC governing body wants the game to be globalised and it was for this very purpose the format of T20 was given a go ahead. So, what purpose does shunting out teams from the primer cricketing event have then? 

And no one is crying foul for this. There are no optimists or purists coming forward to protest this decision. A lot have been debated about T20 but no one really is giving any heed to this serious issue.

The reason why cricket became very popular, as it stands now with the advent of limited over cricket, was because of the success the teams from Caribbean and the sub continent enjoyed while playing limited over format, which started out as an experiment. Similar success was what Ireland enjoyed this edition; similar success was what Kenya enjoyed in 1996 WC (when they beat West Indies), and in 2003 WC (where they reached the semifinals). Bangladesh also got a taste of this success defeating Pakistan in 1999 WC and there are many more such instances one could cite.

Irish cricket has gone from an amateur sport, with a limited playing pool and playing structure, to a country with its own elite system and central retainers. Having the opportunity to compete in the World Cup every four years has been a significant part of the development programme for minnows like Ireland.

Now, with this decision what good that kind of a development would do? Barry Richards was a prodigy, a career cut short because South Africa were thrown out of cricket fraternity due to the country’s apartheid fiasco. Steve Tikolo could have made it to any playing XI of the leading cricketing nations. So could have players like Basil D'Oliveira, John Davison and Ryan ten Doeschate. But they never did just because they were not born in a nation with cricketing legacy.

Now similar fate awaits players like Paul Stirling, George Dockrell and William Porterfield.

(This article was first published in Zeecric.com)

http://cricket.zeenews.com/blogs.aspx?blogid=122&authorid=23

Spare a thought for the others

BLEED BLUE, ITS THE NEW WORLD ORDER 



Sinned be those who dare missed a momentous occasion, an occasion where the great took the ultimate leap of greatness. Wankhede witnessed the baptism of immortality and 100 billion witnessed probably the best moments of their life. By now the netizens would have gone berserk in the same way as the whole of India went rabid on every street possible on 2nd of April, the blue letter day. I am not going to pour out all my emotions because I have heard that feelings especially overwhelming are very hard to express, now I know it is even harder to pen them down as well. So enjoy the moment, though I would like to take this opportunity to spare a thought for other as well, other teams and players who formed an integral part of this World Cup.

INDIA,INDIA,INDIA …

It was a war, mother of all battles, all roads leading to Mohall and what not. India-Pakistan up against each other in the crucial semi final match, it just couldn’t have got better. In the past one week I was surrounded by or rather engulfed by these extraordinary phrases. Like a myriad of missiles, India Pakistan clash was being escalated to the heights of immortality, equated to a war, with Mohali being the battlefield, Dhoni and Afridi being the head honchos. Now its Sri Lanka and even this is also a war, a righteous war (Ram against Ravana). And my reaction to all this; when is it all going to end !!!

Coming back to the semi final, it was just a game. But no one was willing to take it as a game; for them it was not cricket, it was a desire, a kind of hallucination, fired up by our own media.

Journalism is the ability to meet the challenge of filling space; it was an observation by a famous journalist Rebecca West and just think of it, how true is it now. In the name of a cricket match and cricket coverage we are being dished out crap and we are taking it. And it is just not this game; the entire atmosphere of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 has been this.

India taking on Bangladesh, everyone wants a bloody revenge of 2007.

India taking on England, everyone wants the former dictators to be quashed.

India taking on the Irish, everyone wants the minnows to get annihilated.

India taking on South Africa everyone wants the proteas to be taught a lesson.

India taking on West Indies everyone wants the historic repeat of 1983.

India taking on Australia; oh my God that was a “Mini final” in itself.

And then, India Pakistan, it was a bitter battle, everyone wanted bloodshed.

But for me all this is disturbing, this is animosity being fuelled up for no reason at all, the spirit of the game is being ignored, is being hampered. The World Cup is not only about India. This edition of the quadrennial event has by far been a huge success, no doubt about that. But have the so called cricket crazy people of India appreciated the World Cup in the right way? I doubt it.

I always had a feeling that this “cricket crazy nation” is actually quite ignorant about the sport. It’s not a cricket crazy nation. It is more of an Indian cricket crazy nation. But fair enough, your team is doing well, you are always behind your team, supporting them throughout, the patriotism comes in, all of this is understandable. But what about the spirit, it is just not there.

Enough of this blabbering about India, India, India; as per my header, let’s just spare a thought for others as well. This edition had 12 teams participating, but for the people it was India and others participating. Well anyway whatever it may be.

GUTSY ISLANDERS

Sparing a thought, first up Sri Lanka. Into the finals, in the most no nonsensical of all fashion, they have earned a place in the Grand Finale. I was reading one article right after India knocked out Australia, its heading had a mention of India being the next superpower in terms of cricket, and I was forced to think about Sri Lanka. This is their second straight World cup final. Indian team is at the wrong side of 30 as per age and the Islanders are already out of the transition phase of the Jayasuryas and the Muralidharans. An amazing bunch of young talented brigade Sri Lanka for me is most definitely the team which would replace Australia at the top of the tree in the coming years.

DICEY PAKISTAN

Pakistan came into the tournament in total disarray, and just look at the way they have performed. Unpredictable has long become a cliché with them, but it’s the character shown by them, which stands out. No one gave them the chance without their first choice pacers and look at the way the second string bowling of Wahab Riaz and Abdur Razzak have performed under the seniors Umar Gul and Shahid Afridi.

KIWI JOINING IN THE PARTY

New Zealand, the other semifinalists, who eventually were outclassed by the Lankans, have had a fairytale tournament. Tim Southee, finished as the third best wicket taking bowler of the tournament. This is a team were you just cannot pick a star, but collectively they are a force to reckon with. 5 semi-final appearances in 10 World Cups clearly portrays the class and temperament the cricketers from New Zealand always possessed.

AN IRISH DELIGHT

Ireland have had humongous success as they carried forward their good form, from last World Cup to make an impact here. Their performance was clearly a shot in the arm of the ICC setup who have decided to drop the minnows from next year’s World Cup.

ODI: A PANDORA’S BOX

So clearly, this World Cup has definitely been a Pandora’s box, for all the right reasons that is. More importantly this World Cup has proved that ODI Crcicket would sustain itself as opposed to various suggestions for phasing out this format. This edition especially in the subcontinent was looked at as the last nail in the coffin of ODIs. It was hailed as the deathbed for the ever diminishing art of spin. But just look at the way Shahid Afridi has lead the pack of spinners. Imran Tahir, Robin Peterson were a revelation proving to be the trump card for the proteas. Gramme Swann lived up to the expectations of being the No.1 spinner in this format and clearly was the best bowler for England in the tournament. It was said batting would reach new heights and bowlers would be there to stack up numbers only. Everything was proven wrong, the bowlers proved to be the difference in the end.