India out of the World Cup

*sob*

Friday, March 23, 2007 - one of the most dismal days in Indian World Cup history for the past two decades. Actually, now that I think some more about it, it is a toss up between that and March 17th, the day of India's humiliating loss against Bangladesh.

*sob*

In the Bangladesh match, our top batsmen scored as follows: Sehwag 2, Uthappa 9, Tendulkar 7, Dravid 14, Dhoni 0. Only Ganguly, 66, and Yuvraj Singh 47 made scores of any significance.

Against Sri Lanka, in the must-win match, our intrepid batsmen scored as follows: Uthappa 18, Ganguly 7, Tendulkar 0, Yuvraj Singh 6, Dhoni 0 (again). Sehwag 48 and Dravid 60 demonstrated that they had had a spine transplant in the intervening period.

I'm not going to talk about Bermuda, because if they had lost against Bermuda, it would have been time for the boys in blue to give up our status as an international cricket team and go back to playing the game on the streets and by-lanes of Indian cities.

*sob*

How can a team that has such incredible talent and potential do so miserably? The question is rhetorical, because the answer is obvious - our cricketers quite consistently fail to deliver the goods when under stress. In all fairness, they do carry the burden of the tremendous expectations of over 1 billion people. The fact that they don't have an unusual gait because of buckled knees is a bit of an achievement in itself. But only to a certain extent, because at that level, they need to learn to get over that.

The other problem is the Indians themselves. We put our cricketers on a pedestal because of our passion for the game and expect unrealistic achievements from them. (Though, making it through to the Super 8s is hardly an unrealistic expectation.) The media stroke their egos by writing odes to "Team India" and all the great things that they are going to do. Bollywood puts up shows in their honor, because unless Shah Rukh Khan dances for them, how would they even be able to lift their bats? Companies sign them up for obscene amounts of money to endorse their products. Unfortunately, somewhere in the midst of this circus, the focus on the game itself is lost. Instead, it is all about fame and fortune.

I'm not saying the whole team has lost their way. Rahul Dravid is one of the few guys who has his feet firmly planted on the ground. On the other hand, perhaps if Mahendra Singh Dhoni concentrated less on the upkeep of his blond highlights and more on his batting strokes, he might have made a more significant contribution. As much as it hurts me to say this, perhaps it is time for Tendulkar to retire. Don't get me wrong - I love the man. He was, arguably, the best contemporary player in the world at one point for an astonishing number of years. But he is not really able to deliver what we need in crunch situations any more, and I'd rather he left now, when he is still much loved, than wait until a time when everyone is baying for his blood. Much of the team is young, and hopefully, still fairly malleable. Maybe this crushing loss can serve as a wake-up call and help them to realize that it is now time to apply laser-like focus on the game itself and that glitzy non-cricket matters need to recede into the background.

But for now, I am going to stop crying and make a resolution to stop caring about cricket so much. It's really not worth the effort. I am going to strive to be only mildly curious about it, so much so that if India does win the World Cup in the future, my only reaction is going to be a raised eyebrow and a "Oh, how delightful!"

Yeah. Right.