'Cricket lost its soul long ago'

Sambit Bal's article 'Only a game' attracted a lot of feedback from our readers. Click here to comment on this article. Here are some of the comments we have received so far:

Cricket lost its soul a long time ago. The ICC and the Indians bear particular responsibility for turning cricket into this foul disgusting mess. It repels fans like me who grew up reading about Bradman, Sobers et al, truly believing in cricket's greatness. - Zubaer

Thumbs up for this wonderful article. Cricket needs a reality check. But it is equally important to note that there is literally no game in the world which is popular yet non-commercial. A game needs money to become popular. However, once it gets there, it is again the money and competing interests that bring the game down.

- Sameer Bansal

This is an excellent article correctly highlighting the unholy marriage between global capital and a regressive right-wing nationalism in Indian cricket. There is still time to save the game by breaking the link between Murdoch TV's monopoly over the ordinary Indian fan, but not much. As a player and lover of the sport, I find myself unwillingly wishing, like Mr Bal, for India's early exit from the the cup.

- Pablo Mukherjee

The article makes interesting reading. However, I feel that India as a 'sporting nation" depends too much on cricket. We need to give people something else to "worry" about. I have been living in the US for 12 years; I root for my University team for baskeball, football and then my home team, Chicago, for NBA and NFL. You see, I have something to "cling on to" or "look forward to" all through the year. India does not have something like that. That is the reason why cricket brings such a disproportionate amounts of stress to everybody including players, sponsors, coaches, administrators, media and it trickles down into general public. India desparately needs to promote other sports as well.

- Sachin Moghe

It just seems like the author lives in a different world. The economies of cricket are driven by capitalism. They are not driven by fanaticism. There is nothing wrong in companies having a stake in cricket just because 90% of the viewership comes from India. In the USA, advertisers make tons of money around Football games. Every second of an advertisement in the half-time show of the Super Bowl costs millions of dollars. The world runs on capitalist economies and expecting that people should stop taking advantage is plain stupid. If SetMax stops, someone else will take its place.

- Dude

I agree wholeheartedly with but here are some questions that are not addressed by the article: * The amount of money made by the contracted players is so high (millions of Indian cricket fans will not be able to even retire with that kind of money after having worked for 50 years). For the money that the cricket players make, there is not a single ounce of accountability. Are the players improving on their fielding during the off season? Are the players working on their fitness in the off season? If they are back from off season and are out of form, fitness etc., they must not play. Where is this accountability structure? We should take a page out of professional sports in the USA. The pay structure is high but the expectations are also high. If one who gets paid does not perform, then they automatically take a back seat and are totally forgotten (remember NBA players Vin Baker, Shawn Kemp, etc.)

* Selection of the team is an iffy affair. After every team selection there are thousands of articles written about why one was selected and why one was not selected. Only 11 players can represent the team. There are going to be heartburns. It is just like getting into IIT or BITS or any other college in India. There are only a limited number of seats. The talented ones that do the required hardwork and meet the standards are selected into the colleges. The same should be true for the cricket team selection. Yes, there are going to be child prodigies like Tendulkar but that does not happen even every 10 years. Set up the leagues make it interesting to watch, people will know about players, their statistics, performances, etc. Hence, when they are selected in the national team there is some method.

* The board. Why is the board not professional? Why don't we want a professional body who are paid salaries?

- Kumar N Dwarakanath

Indians do not have the physical ability, for genetic reasons or whatever, to do well in the truly international sports like soccer, basketball, tennis etc. Cricket is not as physically demanding as the aforementioned sports (Arjuna Ranatunga, who was the captain of a world cup winning Srilankan side, is a glaring example)...this is the only sport which India can play at the international level and actually win a few matches. This is where the media and the corporates come in, every time India wins a one-day match on a tailor-made subcontinental pitch, the gullible public are made to believe that we have conquered the world. This ensures more eyeballs and product placement for the next match, but in the process people forget that cricket is played seriously by only nine countries in the world, and out of them four are from the subcontinent, and for the remaining five countries cricket is not the number 1 sport.

- Sudip

As a fan of the game since the early '50's, even though far removed form the venues of international cricket, I am appalled at the commercialaization and the obsession in India today. One has to learn to take the succcesses and failures with equanimity,a fundamantal belief of the country and its main religion instead of indulging in despicable acts during the times of failure by the Indian team. Our politicians also should learn to be balanced with their rewards and praise for the players! I am concerened for the players in the event that they lose to Sri Lanka.

- Manjeri S. Raman

I get a feeling that Bermuda might have been coaxed to granting India first bat for the sheer pressure of meeting the economic gains of seeing india in the super eights.

- Venkatesan

Couldn't agree more that the economic model on which cricket is based is on shaky ground. By all means capitalise on the sub-con fan base. But at the very least attempt to build a sustainable approach to the game. Neither the drive for cash nor the overplayed one-day games is putting the future of the game in good hands. Surely that should be of concern to the administrators. It would be nice to see that acknowledged and plans put in place. With so many great cricketers surely there are leaders in the game that can shine through and tackle this issue...

- Richard

With due respect, either Sambit is unaware of the happenings in world sport or just refuses to accept the reality existing in the sporting domain. In the NBA we have regular brawls spilling into the courts, we have widespread doping problems in MLB, of course in addition to fights involving entire teams. In football, especially in Latin America, we have kidnappings and even murders. In Europe we have spectators running onto the pitch with only one intent on their either mind. To single out cricket fans and to say that they are to blamed is preposterous. The cricketers and other sportsmen don't care when they are reaping those lakhs of rupees. You can't have the cake and eat it too..literally. Either stop making so much money and play decently, or make as much as you want and atleast put out enough effort on the field so that we wont feel aggrieved when you lose.. It is time they realized that "we the public" are feeding them those crores of rupees...and if we want we can change the kismat of each and every one of those involved in sport.

- Aditya

Is it the cart that is driving the bull or the bull that is driving the cart? Does the blame lie with the people who peddle cricket or the public who buy it? The blame lies on both and to point a finger at one side does not hold merit. Like it or not India follows only one international sport and team. The reason could be because of the lack of development of other sports in our country. Cricket is the only entertainment other than movies for the masses in India. Unless other forms of entertainment develop in India cricketers will be the object of adulation. Cricket holds a special status because this is the only sport where we have international superstars and our society has always placed a premium on personalities whether it be sport or politcs- it is etched in our DNA. With a bullish economy and a billion people, India is bound to be the epicentre of everything soon. Let us get used to it rather than say this power - just or unjust- has to be shared. US does not have the best national basketball team in the world but without NBA basketball has zero commercial value. You don't see the US being apologetic about it. All we can do is hope that some other sports will come and take the pressure of cricket in India. Until then hold on tight as the deadly cocktail of jingoism, money and passion is bound to cause trouble.

- Kal

The article hits the nail in the head. Clearly the main argument in the article relates to fundamental economics and the "ethical" issue of how the fundamentals of those economics are pitched to funders - sponsors/advertisers. In some sense, this sort of dubious activity is omnipresent. When the Mets or Yankees bow out of the World Series, audiences in New York lose interest in baseball - generally speaking. Perhaps soccer is the only game that retains viewership even after the home team is knocked out. I am referring only to international championships and World Cups, not club games. Cricket, on the other hand, is solely dependent on international matches. Domestic cricket in virutally all countries - perhaps the only exclusion may be UK - is generally lacklustre. Stadiums are empty, there is little TV coverage, negligible sponsorship, and even the players do not generate any spectator interest. Perhaps even the format is boring. To balance out the performance versus economics issue, it may not be a bad idea to follow football's example. The ICC should establish an environment whereby domestic competitions become far more important - and players may have the ability to participate, be invited to play in domestic games anywhere in the world. And by adding tournaments such as the UEFA, or other inter-club, inter-domestic championships.

- Parag Harolikar