Cricket lover for a month

As cricket becomes more and more commercial by the day, Sayantani Kar, argues her case about why she split with her yesteryear love

Much before MS Dhoni swirled the helicopter shot, Mike Gatting had lost England the 1987 World Cup with the reverse sweep at Eden Gardens. But this is not about liking the weird, out-of-box shots, this is also not about batting trivia and this certainly isn't about "aamar Eden Gardens". This is about how someone like me, who would breathe and dream cricket, who knew her facts and then got bored of it. Albeit, with a twist at the end.

Desperate measures to hook the reader notwithstanding, can anyone please explain why would we want another tournament, with the same players who regularly play in our backyard in the indigenous league that is all grown-up now?

Before I antagonise you further, let me admit that cricket’s popularity is irrefutable. One just needs to ask the lead sports broadcaster about the India-Pakistan match TRP! The powers-that-be have made sure we eat, drink and sleep cricket, if not in spirit, then literally. But the flag-waving fervour has got blunted by year-round international itineraries and domestic leagues that jostle for space on a calendar these days.

Even the face-off between India and Pakistan felt muted this time, some complaining how thanda it was. There was no whiff of that legendary rivalry that once saw Venkatesh Prasad reap sweet revenge, along with the Indian fan, when he got Aamir Sohail, who had taunted him moments ago, clean bowled. The players are different and so is the spirit. So, isn't it now only fodder for some nifty advertising?

It has become so difficult to romanticise the game. And, what is sports if robbed of that? The pall of match-fixing has never left cricket ever since the ugly truth was uncovered. Collective memory has a way of taking everything into stride, eventually. In cricket, the realisation that the dearly-held memories could have been stage-managed has made even the most ardent fan (not me) look at the game in a clinical way. So, the hullabaloo around the Holy Grail of cricket, the World Cup, makes me reach out for the salt shaker. Admit it, that Whatsapp forward which claimed that this Cup was also fixed, had you frowning and uncomfortable!

When India won the cup last time, it brought back a fleeting sense of what cricket used to mean, but mostly, after the win. Those people on the streets, strung by the thread of celebration, happened only after the final. I sorely missed feeling excited in the run-up. Now, the sport is fraught with cricketing greats (the ones I cared about) retiring, over-exposure of the form and the option of romanticising other sports.

I am better off with my memories of matches where I would bawl at the end if my team lost. So, why bother with the World Cup, at all? The ardent fan on the couch next to me hasn’t given up hope, putting his faith in the band of new cricketers. Some of them won us the cup last time. As India broke another World Cup jinx by defeating my erstwhile favourite team, it is perhaps time to jump off the fence and get interested for one more season, even if it means starting with learning who all are in the squad.