The Hindu : Sport : Disturbing the very fabric of cricket culture

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Tuesday, Jul 25, 2006

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Disturbing the very fabric of cricket culture

If one cares for Indian cricket, its tradition and culture have to be protected, writes Makarand Waingankar

DIFFERING VIEWS: The comments made by Sanjay Manjrekar (right) about Sachin Tendulkar's injuries did not go down well with the latter. — File Photo: V.V. Krishnan

Politics has taken centre-stage in Indian cricket. The lovely game which gives pleasure to the young and old is forgotten.

Sanjay Manjrekar's tirade against Sachin Tendulkar or Sourav Ganguly's e-mail politics to derail his one-time mentor Jagmohan Dalmiya's return to power can be viewed from different angles. But the impact on Indian cricket is much more than what one could envisage.

To be fair to Manjrekar, he — unlike other cricketers — went on record to express his opinion, which in a democracy, has to be appreciated. What was surprising was the angry reaction of Tendulkar when Manjrekar questioned his commitment to the game. Manjrekar has an opinion and Tendulkar disagrees. Others smell conspiracy which attracts controversy.

When the former Australian skipper Kim Hughes wept bitterly in the Brisbane press box in December 1984 after quitting captaincy because of Ian Chappell's scathing criticism, Chappell had said, "I am looking at Hughes' captaincy from the eyes of a journalist."

Manjrekar too says the same thing but unfortunately in the Indian context more than logic it is the stature that counts. The difference between Manjrekar and Tendulkar is of 69 international hundreds. But why should that matter?

Manjrekar may have erred in not checking the facts with Tendulkar, but his opinion has no agenda. Was it his intention to provoke Tendulkar to press the accelerator? Or is it typical of Mumbaikars to needle (chaavi as they call it) a performer who is underperforming?

To both the Manjrekars, Vijay and Sanjay, cricket has always been a passion. To Tendulkar, cricket is a religion. But to all of us, it is a sport and must be played as a sport as the great Pele said. Expression of an opinion, however illogical it may sound, must not disturb the very fabric of our cricket culture.

E-mail saga

In Kolkata cricket is getting stuck in e-mail. It looks like they have forgotten that Bengal lost the Ranji final narrowly and that too without Ganguly. The e-mail saga has gone on for so long in Kolkata that no teenager should be blamed if he believes that only an e-mail can be responsible for lack of opportunities.

For politicians in sports to indulge in politics is quite understandable, but for a cricketer of the stature of Sourav Ganguly, who is one of the most successful captains of India, to say that leakage of Greg Chappell's e-mail ten months back affected his career is ridiculous.

Vinoo Mankad once said: "Cricket is a game of temperament and skills. The more you think about things other than performance, the more unlikely you are to succeed."

Could these random cases of ego, jealousy and lack of gratitude be due to money in Indian cricket? Couldn't Sanjay Manjrekar, a friend of Tendulkar with whom he shared partnerships for India and Mumbai, have spoken to Tendulkar instead of voicing his opinion publicly is a point worthy of debate.

Couldn't Ganguly have called Dalmiya to clarify the doubts he had about the leaked e-mail of Greg Chappell, even though it had already been clarified when a meeting was convened in Mumbai to bury the hatchet.

These are the questions one may ask, but Indian cricket has a history, tradition and culture. Not that it has not had a share of controversies, but sadly the sporting minds are now getting so much manipulated by vicious negative campaigns in a bid to capture power that the very fabric of cricket culture is torn.

Indian cricket has survived conspiracies and controversies in the past and will continue to do so in the future, but it is the history, tradition and culture that one needs to safeguard if at all we care for this noble game.

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