Game of Death...

I was totally disturbed and disgusted the way the game of cricket has been progressing these days. My first pranams to Mr Bob Woolmer who was such a magnificent cricketer and a great coach who was regarded as the father of modern day coaching who had the scientific temper to modernise coaching cricket.

He was a great man, great visionary who transformed the springboks to came back strongly after the apartheid. I have always stunned by his coaching styles of introducing bowling machines,fielding coaches, use of laptops, understanding opponents bowling by watching the video footages etc.

As Alan Donald, rightly put it, he spent his life for cricket and also paid for it.
But still, it sucks to see the game of cricket has gone to such a horrible depths where media/threats/money play such a vital role and totally took away the charisma of "its another game".



I would blame the media and advt companies, which unnecessarily adulates any xyz and make him a celebrity, patronises him by offering contracts/endorsements, pushes him into overnight celebrity and puts his game into back burner.

What is the need for so many channels to follow sehwag's form, xyz's love affair, any cricketer's restaurant / hair saloon ?. Gone are the days where it was played with such an enthusiasm/joy in international arena where "it was just a game" and and not "another strategy to make money".

Sports should inculcate the enthusiasm to play for the audience and also provide enjoyment to audience to watch it. Till mid-eighties where the game was played well within the commonwealth, it had its pride and glory. The moment few sheikhs who brought the game to barren lands of Sharjah, we had the first nail in the coffin.

Thanks to members of asian cricketing boards, who saw a huge potential to market the game these are never taught in harvard....Mr Mark...!!!) and players signing endorsements for huge sums and always performed well in "pucca/plastic pitches" and became "tigers on paper"

Another opportunity for Bollywood-Cricket nexus (which started from abid ali to azhar) which got extended to the "goodfellas". There is so much of politics in today's cricket where it is no more a sport where merit alone counts. If u get a chance to watch the movie "iqbal" by nagesh kukunoor, which beautifully portrays how difficult it is for a kid to get into a cricket team.

To me it was not a surpise, when India lost to Bangladesh (thanks to indhira gandhi...for 1971...their liberation..), it was very much predicted. To me i strongly believe any form of art/sport/profession can be practiced only when the performer is committed to it. I couldn't see even minute traces of commitment from the present team. There is absence of camaraderie when u have 3-4 ex-captains in a side..(resembles 92' indian side which had 6 ex-captains!!!)

I hope there might be someday when indian cricket will have the same fate as the indian hockey team which was once 8 time olympic gold-medal winners...(thanks 2 Mr Gill and his foolish decisions...)

If that day comes, I would be there to write an obituary column for Indian Cricket reaching the acharyan thiruvadi (Born 1933 - Died 2007)

May Woolmer's soul Rest in Peace,

~Lakshman