Will we feel again, the joy of cricket?

As the media goes into full throttle, war and warriors and who knows what, the sad truth is that, once again, at least five of our main warriors will not be part of this war – their names I refuse to take… Revenge, badla, battle… what have we descended to? Images of our players in full-battle gear, whether historic or modern… is this cricket? does cricket need this? There are thousands of people, publicists, production designers, studio heads, channel executives, promotion experts – the list is endless, who are making crores out of this nonsense – hence the nonsense continues – and where does cricket, that game of such art and skill and subtle strength, end up in all of this? As a commodity, here today, gone tomorrow… Revenge… from England? Does an army which has been totally humiliated seek revenge? No, first it seeks balance and reconstruction and penance within its own ranks. You do not take revenge for total defeat – you learn from it; you grow again… But what are our players, our captain, doing? Excuses, excuses, excuses – as lame as many of the players – fatigue, bad luck, weather, too much cricket – did any of our players; any of them – give credit to England for their amazing display? We have become a world leader in so many fields – and one of them was cricket. But we are making all the same mistakes that every world leader has always made – arrogance, greed, total lack of grace; grace and humility were what we were known for – these qualities made us world leaders long before world leadership was ever judged in terms of nuclear strength or monetary might. Tomorrow is the first match of what should be a fascinating series – two top teams – two rivals, ancient and now very recent – such a series does not need marketing. Marketing cheapens it; marketing reduces it to a soap opera, which it is definitely not. [caption id=“attachment_107165” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“India need to seek balance, not revenge. AFP”] [/caption] Tomorrow a very hard ball will be bowled at tremendous speed to a batsman with amazing skills and expertise to meet the ball with weathered willow, and either send it crashing to the fence, or glide it towards the boundaries at delicate angles. Then, as the ball grows older, it will be spun and looped with such precise skill that even a nuclear scientist, dealing with the tiniest of atoms, would watch in awe – and those same batsmen will have to conquer spin and loop with footwork and wristy wonder and such keen eyesight. This is art of the highest level, at the highest level, this is sport, and sport is an ultimate art. And we are reducing it to screaming headlines and thundering background scores and words bristling with aggression and hate – to strangely-robed players trying to pass themselves off as warriors and chiefs and military commanders. All in the name of more and more money… But – and here is the silver lining… I know that there are still crores and crores of Indians who love cricket for the art it is and these are the crores and crores who made this wonderful art into the game it is… They will follow this series with love and passion, and many of them, most of them, will not watch the pre and post game shows – in fact, (they) will turn off the commentary, and simply watch the cricket – and when a four is struck, or a quick single taken, or a catch snapped up, or a wicket won, or a fresh strategy is attempted by a wise captain – these crores and crores of cricket-lovers will applaud and smile and feel – again – the joy of cricket.