Unholy criticism

By Rajadhyax

When India obliterated any opposition that stood in its path and won the Asia Cup, people started to heap odes and bouquets on our players. Suddenly Dhoni became an astute captain while our team became a bank of performers. The fielding and bowling came for special mention. Now flash back to a second-string Indian team losing the ODI competition in Zimbabwe recently. The same people castigated the Indian team as a bunch of money earners not bent on cricket. Go down a little further down memory lane to the recent T20 World Cup. We did not make it to the finals and Team India called a pack of paper tigers. They were considered fit only for the dust bins.

The team members do not change so quickly. Their performances may! Cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties. This is probably the oldest cricketing proverb and it happens to be so true. Today where the game attracts million dollar contracts and has become extremely competitive, all teams vie to win. All teams boast of talented cricketers. All teams prepare themselves well. And, above all, all teams analyse each other enough to garner points over one another. In this scenario those ‘glorious’ uncertainties increase. Some wins are bound to be punctuated by a few loses. But Indian cricket fans and critics (some even writing for famous newspapers – God help us) do not understand this at all. To them, I suppose, India must win every single match they play. But that, I am afraid, is not feasible.

Match performance varies from time to time due to many determinants. Pitch conditions, moisture in the air, brand of balls used, crowd support (or the lack of it), media barrage, practice sessions, injuries, recoveries, video analysis, altitude, weather and many other determinants are there that can influence team performances. What the average fans – and also the ‘learned’ critics – need to understand is that we need to support the team to the fullest. In triumphs we must dance with them while in losses we must sympathise with them. Yes, where healthy criticism will prove constructive in the end, we must criticise them. Uncalled for comments, personal vendettas or baseless allegations build up pressure on the team and it’s the kind of pressure that does not remain constructive in the end.

Where a relentless Ravindra Jadeja keeps dropping simple catches at a rate of five in four matches, we must severely criticise. But a flamboyant Sehwag not scoring in a couple of matches should not be battered with a round of unholy comments or criticism. At crucial junctures Harbhajan invariably lets his faster ones go on the batsman’s legs and Dhoni keep failing to even collect those wides, this needs to be criticised. But an otherwise consistent Zaheer failing in a match or two must be given kinder treatment. Empathise if you cannot sympathise.

One must be more selective in public comments. Otherwise we become modern versions of the older lynch-mobs. I find this selectivity more among the performance sensitive American critics and most of their fans when they speak about American sporting achievements and failures. They often settle into good criticism rather than scandalous attacks. It’s something that Indians need to learn. As a race Indians are over-sensitive and emotional. Their patriotism they wear on their forehead and not just on the sleeve. Most criticism comes out of this patriotism rather than careful analysis.

When the Indian team loses a major match, this emotionally charged group of people abuse the team in words that cannot be publicly printed. On the other hand when the Indian team wins a major tournament or series, they start planning to build temples of the star players. So we move around from one extreme to the other. There is no ‘in between’ with Indian cricket fans. I would like to conclude with a theme a little similar to one of my earlier conclusions: come on folks, be reasonable. Criticise when absolutely necessary but otherwise be a constructive support to the team. I assure you they are doing their level best to achieve a win in every match they play. But what can they do, cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties, remember?