The Day I quit International Cricket…

The title may be deceptive and one may think that this is written by an ageing Indian Cricketer, but that isn’t the case. The post is written by just another ardent cricket fan who belongs to the most cricket frenzy nation in the world.

I was never a believer of the adage that cricket is a religion in India. You don’t talk about your religion to anyone and everyone just like that. Do you? You pause a bit, think twice and then talk about any religion so that the sentiments are not hurt. But the case is exactly the reverse when it comes to cricket. You comment about the players and their techniques and even families to complete strangers. Cricket in India is much more that a religion and for many it has been important than their career. [Ask the people who have failed/got bad grades in their board / university exams because of the Cricket World Cups]. Cricket is the best conversation starter in the nation and makes one feel comfortable with the other person within minutes. But, for a sport to become an integral part of the billion people in Nation there must be something spectacular about the sport. Is there something really special about this sport that makes us eat, sleep and pray Cricket?

On deeper introspection, I find that more than anything else Cricket is associated with our psychology. I may not be able to speak for the people who used to watch cricket even before India’s premier world cup victory or the test match era but I can certainly vouch for the guys born in the 80s. I still remember the BOOST Ad which made me a mad fan of Sachin Tendulkar. As a 6 or 7 year old, you get inspired when a 16 year old smashes the world deadliest bowlers. You get attracted towards a person when you hear stories about him batting with a shirt full of blood. You get goose bumps when a diminutive baby-faced teenager looks into the eyes of Merv Hughes and Craig Mcdermott. We started to create an alter ego of ourselves of what we saw from the little champion. It was a story of courage, a story of hope that gave us a cushion to think that we are not what we are.

Cricket instilled a lot of patriotism in us and gave us a big mountain, to hide our problems. We had something to look forward even in our turbulent times. We suddenly had something with which we are not directly associated but felt as a part of. The 1996 World cup quarter finals victory against Pakistan gave us more joy and pride than Pokhran II. We were a nation obsessed by Cricket by then. Thanks to the jam-packed schedule and the introduction of a bunch of talented new players in the side.

From a single super star who was driving the nation behind him with his bat, we suddenly had Fab-3. Even the regionalists were forced to follow the game and come along as the Fab 3 were from the different zones of the country. We were suddenly watching India 2.0. We were with the Indian cricket team throughout the year. We celebrated when they won, we cried when they lost and we stood with them during the darkest times like the match fixing.

The reason for such unbridled love and affection towards the team is not a one off affair. It is the result of the joy and happiness which the team has provided us over the years. They have helped us to forget our personal problems and have made us cheer for them wherever they go. People who live far away from home for ages also have a sense of belonging when the Indian team plays cricket. Such love and affection is way ahead of the restricted love which we exhibit amongst friends or relatives. It is an unexplainable and uncontrollable kind of feeling which can never be penned. But, they say, Success has a lot of fathers and failure is an orphan.

In love, you never see the imperfections. It is because you are blind when you are in love. When you come out of it and look back, you start to analyze the black spots with a magnifying glass. You try to extrapolate based on your assumptions and try to demean them. The more you think, the more you hate the other person. You think that you have been deceived for all these years and you start to question the wonderful years that you’ve had together. The parting made by such a loss is much more difficult than a real break-up. So, I have taken a bold yet cowardice decision to call it quits.

When we have our own problems, it doesn’t make sense to carry the other party’s problem along with us. We had a wonderful relationship, where we enjoyed every moment together. But, now the load is too much for me share it. This isn’t like the 2007 WC loss, where a single bad day turned the tables around us. These are matches where we have our best resources. But, the weakness of the best has been brutally exposed. The great mental image created in the past decade and a half now looks like a mirage. A little more thought may bring out something else or may even prove that I am completely wrong, but dissecting into the problem brings out a lot of pain than answers.

The reason for mentioning International Cricket in the subject does make a lot of sense. When Tamil Nadu lost the Ranji trophy finals even before batting, I was disappointed but not sad. When Chennai Super Kings were shunted out of the Champions League, I did feel sad for my city but I never cried. But, when the Indian cricket team loses in such a fashion, it takes days to come out of the trauma. It makes all the things in the vicinity ugly, it makes me harsh, it makes me absolutely worthless. Hence, this break-up which may atleast help me gain more time on the personal front.

I took this decision on the first day of the Perth test, when I saw the cookie crumble yet again. I may not see the 100th ton for which I have been wishing and praying for a long period, but again I know that it will come sooner than later. By that time, I will be happy to watch somewhere in the news channels and secretly cherish and feel happy for the Master once again.

PS : The image was taken from google when I searched for images which can be reused. No copyright violations here :-)

TENdulkar - The Even(T) Man

Pre script: This is slightly unconventional but some serious thought has gone behind this article. Hope you guys like this.

One of Tendulkar’s successful years in Cricket is 2010. He scored the first double century in One day internationals and also won the ICC Cricketer of the year for the first time. He also scored more than 1500 runs in 14 test matches captured the pinnacle of test cricket by completing his 50^th ton. Though, there are many theories which are attributed for his success in 2010, the primary reason is his name, he is 10dulkar and not some 11dulkar or 12dulkar. So, it was only natural for him to come good in 2010.

Had the BCCI, know this little secret, the ICC would have obliged to conduct the World Cup in 2010 and India would be the World Champions by now. Ok, let bygones be bygone's and let us talk about the future.

Since the World Cup is around the corner, this article will talk only about it. This is Tendulkar’s sixth world cup and it gives us some assurance that he is going to win the cup for the sake of the billion fans. No, this isn’t some tarot astrology, but a scientific analysis which proves that Tendulkar is going to win this World Cup. More of this later, but first, we need to look at Tendulkar’s performances in the past World Cups.

ODD Man Out

The World cup in England (in 1999) was his third World Cup. He had a torrid time off the field as he lost his father during the World Cup. He flew back to India and returned to join the squad and scored an unbeaten 100 against Kenya. That was it; he did not even score a half-century in the rest of the tournament. The Indians promptly packed their bags and returned home.

The World Cup in West Indies was a disaster, not only for Sachin but for billion supporters as well. India lost 2 of its 3 matches in the first round (Sachin scored 7 and 0) and was out of the tournament. This was Tendulkar’s 5^th World Cup.

From the above theories, we can conclude that Tendulkar doesn’t perform well in the ODD tournaments because he is Tendulkar and not 7dulkar or 11dulkar. Simply put, Tendulkar performs only in the EVEN tournaments because TEN (as in TENdulkar) is an even number.

The ZERO phenomenon

There is another head crunching number which haunts Tendulkar. The ZERO. Whenever Tendulkar gets our for a duck, the Indians pack their bags and leave. So, if Tendulkar gets out for a duck in any of the matches in the first round, we can be assured that the Indians aren’t going to proceed any further.

The Even Factors

In 1996, Tendulkar played his second World Cup. His first World Cup in the sub-continent and relished the occasion. Tendulkar scored more than 500 runs and finished as the leading run scorer. In the 7 matches, Tendulkar reached 3 figures twice and also had 3 half-centuries. Unfortunately, the Tendulkar juggernaut was stopped by the Lankan Lions in the semi-finals.

Tendulkar’s 4^th World Cup was played in South Africa. Tendulkar savored the occasion by scoring heavily. He surpassed his highest score in World Cup and also scored 6 half-centuries. He was the top scorer by a mile and finished the World Cup with close to 700 runs. But, this was again a case of so near yet so far for Tendulkar. It was the Aussies turn to stop the Indian steamroller. Tendulkar took India to the finals of the World Cup but could not clear the final hurdle. India lost the finals and the elite trophy still eludes Tendulkar.

Third time lucky?

This is Tendulkar’s 6^th World Cup and if the even parity is taken into account, we can conclude that he would certainly take the team one step further. So, in the 1996 WC it was the semi finals , in 2003 it was the finals and now he would lead the team to the much awaited World Cup victory. From the above analysis, it is quite obvious that Tendulkar is going to be the top scorer and India is going to win the World Cup.

Post Script: if you think, why his first WC isn’t taken into account, I belong to the ancient Greek school of thought that “1” is neither odd nor even :P