Muthiah Murlitharan has done something that is nothing short of miracle. What makes it incredible is this is rare to Indians, even if you have passed your prime and doing absolutely nothing keep playing till you are literally pushed out. Indians make lot of records but the win percentage doesn’t match these individual records. Murlitharan has called it a day at the peak of his achievements, with 8 wickets to go for the “milestone” of 800 wickets (these given lot of importance in Indian media, there is a small scale industry taking care of records) to declare his intention to retire was nothing short of ‘stupidity’ from Indian media’s (and ‘experts’ on cricket) point of view. He could have easily got these wickets if he had decided to retire after the series. But some people are made of sterner material. They play to win and enjoy, and not amass records at the expense of team and youngsters (people like Tendulkar are exception). Too much is given to reputation and seniority, typically feudal. If a player doesn’t play well they should be removed unless they prove otherwise, don’t understand what “form” means but a rickshaw puller in Chandni chowk cannot claim to be not in “form”, nor does millions of people. “Form” is load of crap as much as ‘humidity in the air”.
BCCI one of the richest sporting body in the world is also one of the most incompetent. Consisting of assortment of greedy people from politicians to businessmen they have minimalist interest in action and a gargantuan appetite for money. Earning at the expense of the game and audience they have functioned in a way that is detrimental to the game itself. Bunch of buffoons consist the selection committee, who flog the same horses till it is dead. No enterprise no thing. Wonder why there are too many Mishras and Sharmas in Indian cricket?.
Clearly the whole selection process is club oriented which is too narrow. They should go out to small towns outside clubs and street level to identify talent and nurture (this to every sporting body in the country). Only Mishras and Sharmas join club (some from middle class but you need to understand
This elitist bias of c
ricket as compared to other sport exists across the world. Look at South African cricket team- there are too many whites, while in football team there are blacks. Look at Indian hockey or football team they come from entirely different social strata, they come from poor family. The middle class is rarely involved in any sport, except maybe for time pass, due to lack of access as also uncertainties of career. If there is assurance of steady income and bright career, sports could be popular career choice. At this point it look risky, youngsters from lower strata get into games to survive.
These aspects need to be studied by sport experts and sport authorities, and responsible media need to focus on these to have an insight into Indian sports. Don’t know whether Sport Ministry has studied these or do they have any policy framework to further sport in this country. Organizing big events need to compliment with access to these infrastructure to common people.
Post Script: this blogger strongly feels that earning from these popular sports like cricket should be taxed heavily. If an Indian cricketer is earning in million it is not really a value on his talents as much as population of this country, they are living on us. These earnings absurdly disproportionate to their talent has to be put in context to Indian realities, the government should introduce another tax structure for these earnings.
A query: if they can ask Turf Club to move out of the city what prevents them from asking Golf Clubs to be shifted out?. There is an elitist bias. Huge chunk of pristine land is made inaccessible to common people. Oh I forgot learned Judge’s children could be playing golf, they cannot be jockey it is a risky business, hitting ball into the hole is a safe and hugely satisfying!!
