Indians hardly love any other thing with such fascination, desperation and aggrssion than Cricket. Whether we love cricket stars or the sport itself has remained the topic of debate always. For me, the thing to mention is that these cricketing stars reflect the changing mode of our society, change in attitudes of our people and in general changing India.
Indian Cricket got real world recognition only after Sunil Gavaskar. Before him, our Cricket was under big impression of Britishers as our country was in that period. Mind you, Gavaskar came in 1971 and Amitabh Bacchan did his entry in same '70s. Indians had started to come out of any sort of obligation and binding of others in that period and hence his 'Angry Young Man' image was so much accepted. During same years, Gavaskar came on the circuit and since then he took Indian cricket to a newer height earning respect from cricketing world. Kapil Dev was also the product of this decade. The first Pokharan was also done in same decade. Is it a coincidence?
Cut to 90's. India was striving to sustain and earning greater credibility in the world. Some aggression based on old basics was coming both in cricket and in society before 90's. After the globalisation, scenario change. This is the decade, when the ever great batting trio of India, Sachin, Saurav and Dravid came and rocked the world. It was the next step, when aggression was increased, confidence was on much higher levels. Throwing all shackles, the regenerated India, in Cricket, was ready to set a big challenge in front of other cricketing countries. Was not this the same story for India as a country in world affairs? Sachin, Saurav and Rahul were the icons of that generation who had seen old values and want to go ahead without going away from those values. Politeness, patience, down to earth attitude of the trio was the peculiar characteristic of Indian society then. How can I forget Anil Kumble in this list? In 1997,Kumble took 10 wickets. 1998 was the most successful year of Sachin and he was acclaimed as best betsman by the world after this. Second Pokharan was also done in 1998. Was it a coincidence?
Cut to 2005, India was emerging as a power in world and in Cricket also. There comes the entire new generation. Yuvraj, Dhoni, Harbhajan,Gambhir. More aggression, more confidence, totally different attitudes, values, beliefs and styles. Sometimes, loosing ground due to over confidence and over aggression. Isn't it a story of Indian youths after 2005. Mind you fiends, college going students have changed tremendously after 2005. Same is the Cricket. They want to do new things, hardly ready to listen others and believe much in themselves. IPL came after this? Breed of young politicians in India also came after this. Is this too a coincidence?
-------------------------------
Youth is cricket has come from society only. So if the sociecy is changing, so would cricket.... seems logical, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteyes thats wt I written.
ReplyDeleteI think the word is Coincidence n not consquence. Avoid long complex sentences use simple ones. Cut the long story short-Can it be short? the answer is yes.
ReplyDeleteI wont say we have much agressive players these days than we had in yesteryear. There has always been a balance or a mix of hot Impulsive and cool calm players in the team now and then. When we talk of Harbhajan sreesanth we also have balance of Dravid and Dhoni n we had kumble too. We had calms of Dilip Vengsarkar and Mohinder Amanath in the team with Kapil and Gavaskar-hots of that time.
There can not be debate on sport is big or a cricketer; its the emergence of media which catapulted cricketers into stars-Dhyanchand the Hockey player missed such a colossal media attention at that time.
I wont buy the argument of India was emerging was a power in world cricket due to pokhran. It is the set or availability of good players that makes you win or emerge.Talk of Pakistan winning T-20 world when the country was in doldrums. West Indian team dominated the cricket for decades irrespective of how country was doing thanks to legends. In any case Whatever goes up comes down.
Not to forget one thing When we have congress we have Shivsena and Raj. When we had Mahatma Gandhi,we had Bhagat singh too
The phases and persons related to changes r really gr8 and ur words really reflect the changing attitude and society of every indian.
ReplyDeleteI agree with mandar completely that the aggression in Indian cricketers nowadays is high.Yes Gavaskar,Kapil Dev,Tendulkar did contribute in this but i think one man who deserves the credit for this aggressie attitude is Saurav Ganguly.The likes of yuvraj,harbajan,Zaheer etc. were very well nurtured and encouraged by dada.Sometimes he had to go against the system(read BCCI) to do this.So the aggresive change in players attitude was seen most in dada's tenure.i.e. from the starting years of this decade.
ReplyDeleteBut i dont agree with Mandar that it reflects the same change in the Indian society.Still many of the political leaders which are the representatives of the society are sons or daughters of former political leaders.offcoursee i dont see anything wrong with that thing but it is not seen in Indian cricket.Especially now a days when the players are most fearless.We see many of the cricket stars of today are from small cities.just as some examples(Dhoni from Ranchi,RP Singh from Rai bareli,Pathan brothers from vadodara etc.)So present cricket team consists of players from all over india including small cities unlike the politics which is the so called mirror of the society.
Nice blog Sir.........
ReplyDeleteNice one mandar,,,
ReplyDelete