Just Cricket

The cup runneth over – in this case probably with champagne since after 28 years, India has won the World Cup in cricket. The joy of a nation was tremendous to behold. Celebrations were on a scale that is difficult to describe. The country rejoiced as one – millions of throats grew hoarse chanting “Indiaaa” and of course “Sachin”.

It is hard to explain to a non-Indian why this sport is followed with so much fervour in this country. I don’t claim to understand all the nuances myself. I like watching cricket and I love cheering for my country – its as simple as that when all is said and done. But why only cricket? And why do we not love cricket itself as a sport but tend to love only our team playing and winning? Again I am far from qualified to answer that. I can only guess at a few factors based on the way I comprehend the manic frenzy of the Indian cricket-lover.

In no other field do we feel like we have a chance to succeed and impress the rest of the world. Its almost as if beating England in cricket makes up for three hundred years of colonization and beating Australia is a way to get back our pride after too many bouts of humiliation. Against Pakistan, let no one even attempt to dissemble – its an outright war. There’s no grace or dignity that comes into play – we want to decimate them. So for most purposes cricket is our weapon to get back at the world or rather a tool to carve a place for ourselves in the world that is right out there in the sun.

Another interesting aspect is that for us our current Indian captain shows true leadership. The kind of leadership we don’t get from our politicians. We are embarrassed by our silly President and fed up with our ineffective Prime Minister. We are not interested in hearing about yet another scam or sleazy scandal. When we have nowhere to turn for inspiration, we look to our cricket team to lift us out of the mundane and elevate our life to the sublime even if it is only for a few brief moments.

We get inspired – we believe we can fly when we see Dhoni hit that final six with a flourish. We cry out loud with sheer happiness. This is why we burden Sachin with a billion expectations. This is why we think he is God – in a country where very often one wonders whether there really is a God watching out for us, only a manifestation of almost poetic sporting ability seems to be true divinity. This isn’t mere cricket – for the majority it is a religion.