The curious case of the Indian cricket fan

By Rajadhyax

The typical Indian cricket fan is a very strange character. He is passionate about his liking of the game and excessively emotional when India is playing. His no-holds-barred-patriotism comes out all guns blazing and on such occasions even his love of cricket becomes secondary. He is generally not someone formally coached in cricket or someone who has played the serious form of the game. Even then he expects the Indian team to win every match they play and anything less than a thumping triumph is treated with contempt. If they lose a match, it is sacrilege and if they lose in a crucial encounter of a high-profile tournament, then God help them! In this regard even the Brazilian soccer fan or a Houston Rockets follower would not perhaps match with him. But this attitude builds up unforeseen pressure on the players, the like of which other teams (except Pakistan, to some extent) do not have to bear.

For this kind of a fan, heroes of one day are zeroes on the next. Good cricket and other niceties of the game are not as important as an Indian win. In this scenario fame becomes a more fickle friend than it normally is and Indian skipper MS Dhoni as well as his bunch of boys learnt it the hard way when they were unceremoniously dumped out of the T20 World Cup recently. The last loss to South Africa and traditional rival Pakistan’s rise to the finals was the proverbial pound of salt in fresh wounds. The Aussies didn’t turn even half as vitriolic on their team’s exit from preliminary rounds as the Indians after a Super 8 debacle.

What this fan does not realise is that he puts the team under unmanageably extra pressure and jeopardises the consistent winning streak that he himself desires. One does not expect unconditional support from cricket fans, but an element of maturity would be welcome. Responsible behaviour and good supportive reactions from the fans are expected especially when the team is going through a lean patch. But in India it’s a distant mirage for the cricketers.

Burning of effigies, stone pelting on cricketers’ houses, baseless allegations of match fixing, undeserving criticism of selectors, unparliamentary abuse of out-of-form players, and finally slander on the game’s governing body is what we get after any major loss of series or tournament. A big win two weeks later and the same players are placed again on a pedestal. This roller coaster ride might be draining our players of half their energies. The resultant tension might be accounting for some of their psychological conditioning in crunch games. That’s why India winning a big series / tournament probably deserves two pats more on the back than any other country winning the same.

Even the media nowadays gets relentless on such occasions. They prefer to portray it as a life and death matter. Strange stories are planted, picked up from unknown sources. Dressing room politics that may or may not have occurred is concurred and brought out on display. Washing dirty linen in public makes for a great story, I suppose, and better TRPs. All of this is not to say that a failure of the team should not be criticised. Criticise it by all means but even those comments need to be balanced and genuine, doused in reasoning and lighted by flawless evidence.

Grant it to the cricketers, guys! Be a sport! Winning and losing is part and parcel of any game. Having been a first hand witness to the preparations of the Indian cricket team I assure you, the team practices heavily. They work very hard, spilling sweat and blood to pull off incredible performances. But remember, the other teams do the same. More than horrendous match fixing allegations or money mindedness of players, there are pure cricketing reasons for most of the losses. Learn to accept defeat with dignity and take success with humility. Rest assured, this team will bounce back very shortly and at that moment you don’t want to eat your own words.