Sirf Cricket...Baaki all bakwaas!
I was quite amused yesterday while watching the crowd reactions when the Rajasthan Royals won against Kings XI Punjab. It was not an isolated incident though...Similar crowd reactions were seen in Kolkatta, Mumbai and Bangalore as well! The histrionic crowd made me wonder the real reason for all the hoopla...I could think of a few which are as follows:
1. The section of the crowd which is seen on the huge screen on the ground is just too excited to come on TV and hence all the commotion which the viewers think is the general mood of the crowd.
2. Then the names of the teams might have evoked a lot of emotion as well. I am saying "Names of teams" because I find hardly anything apart from the name of the team that the crowds can relate with...I mean how many of the four players from Rajasthan zone did the crowd know to bring about that support for the RR team!
Does this also indicate that we Indians are such emotional fools that anything carrying the tag line Punjab/Kolkatta/Bangalore/Chennai becomes a manifestation of our identity/self respect as a regional group! Funny to see the crowd cheering for Andrew Symonds when a few months ago India might have been the last place he would have wanted to play in.
3. The crowd was cheering every sixer, four and wicket taken irrespective of the team scoring it actually. They were objectively enjoying cricket and thrilled every time the ball crossed the boundary without bothering which team the batsman belonged to.
The third reason makes a whole lot of sense at least from my own experience in watching those matches. I realized that I was not attached to any particular team at all and ended up appreciating any team/player that played good cricket. Many of us won't really be attached to any team in particular (unless you are a die hard SRK fan and anything belonging to SRK stirs you or Preity Zinta's for that matter). The reason as I mentioned is no real regional connection in the team (Dhoni being the captain of Chennai team!!).
So I think I will stick to the third reason although it is quite contrary to the mass Indian psychology. Moreover, this objective viewing of cricket is new for us because in international cricket we don't need to ask whom do we clap for or get nervous for...We are with the Men In Blue no matter what...
So may be IPL is giving a new meaning all together to watching cricket...We appreciate a wicket irrespective of whether Shane Warne or Ishant Sharma take it! I think the English County cricket watchers can easily relate with this given the plethora of international players joining one or the other county team.
I wonder how many will agree with this analysis...nevertheless I did try hard to get attached with atleast one of the teams of cities like Bangalore where I currently live or Mumbai the city I love or Kolkatta where I lived as a kid...But in vain...So I have decided "Sirf Cricket...Baki all bakwas" as my motto while watching IPL for the next 40 days!
1. The section of the crowd which is seen on the huge screen on the ground is just too excited to come on TV and hence all the commotion which the viewers think is the general mood of the crowd.
2. Then the names of the teams might have evoked a lot of emotion as well. I am saying "Names of teams" because I find hardly anything apart from the name of the team that the crowds can relate with...I mean how many of the four players from Rajasthan zone did the crowd know to bring about that support for the RR team!
Does this also indicate that we Indians are such emotional fools that anything carrying the tag line Punjab/Kolkatta/Bangalore/Chennai becomes a manifestation of our identity/self respect as a regional group! Funny to see the crowd cheering for Andrew Symonds when a few months ago India might have been the last place he would have wanted to play in.
3. The crowd was cheering every sixer, four and wicket taken irrespective of the team scoring it actually. They were objectively enjoying cricket and thrilled every time the ball crossed the boundary without bothering which team the batsman belonged to.
The third reason makes a whole lot of sense at least from my own experience in watching those matches. I realized that I was not attached to any particular team at all and ended up appreciating any team/player that played good cricket. Many of us won't really be attached to any team in particular (unless you are a die hard SRK fan and anything belonging to SRK stirs you or Preity Zinta's for that matter). The reason as I mentioned is no real regional connection in the team (Dhoni being the captain of Chennai team!!).
So I think I will stick to the third reason although it is quite contrary to the mass Indian psychology. Moreover, this objective viewing of cricket is new for us because in international cricket we don't need to ask whom do we clap for or get nervous for...We are with the Men In Blue no matter what...
So may be IPL is giving a new meaning all together to watching cricket...We appreciate a wicket irrespective of whether Shane Warne or Ishant Sharma take it! I think the English County cricket watchers can easily relate with this given the plethora of international players joining one or the other county team.
I wonder how many will agree with this analysis...nevertheless I did try hard to get attached with atleast one of the teams of cities like Bangalore where I currently live or Mumbai the city I love or Kolkatta where I lived as a kid...But in vain...So I have decided "Sirf Cricket...Baki all bakwas" as my motto while watching IPL for the next 40 days!