Media wars that cricket could do without

I heard someone tell me that walls unite people. It shook me up, for I always believed that it took a bridge to unite people and that the walls divided them. This lovely game of cricket has over the years united people. The friendship of Ian Botham and Vivian Richards was one of the most pleasing sights on a cricket ground; two men who were the face of world cricket for more than a decade. Their camaraderie was there to be seen in victory and in defeat.

The recent Test series between India and Australia has been one of the best played in recent history. Ideally, the wonderful cricket played by the two teams should have helped the people of both the countries to get closer to each other. Instead we found the media trying to build walls to mark their territory and divide two cricket loving nations.

To a country of one billion people, winning a Test series doesn't make any big difference. We have seen this effort to fan up pseudonationalistic and patriotic feeling out of the success on the cricket field. Cricket is just the game that entertains; it does not solve the problem of the average man in the streets and farms in this country; nor does cricket solve the problems of the people in Australia.

Indians and Australians are not a mean people. This was not a war between nations; this was just a series of cricket matches. Yes, there has been an unfortunate media war that resembled the notorious 'cola war'. There is nothing cricket about all the noises we hear. They are the feeble voice of the meek, tied to the big wheel that keeps spinning to make more and more money for their masters.

It is about time we got back to our lives and started enjoying the game of cricket. There is so much grace and beauty to a well-timed cover-drive than to read about the charges and counter charges. Steve Waugh and Sourav Ganguly are guilty of building up this unsavory atmosphere for the Test series through their war of words, which must have been a marketing ploy to generate more public interest. Final frontier or not, get on with your game guys, we pay to see you play with bat and ball.

The facilities, at least in the smaller venues in India, need to be improved. It was a sad sight to see people not being allowed to carry water into the stadium and hence forced to buy bottles of water sold by a MNC. These are real issues that affect the people. The prime interest has been shifted from the spectators to the sponsors. This trend has to be changed or players will end up playing to empty stands with just colourful advertising hoardings to cheer them.

Matthew Hayden was amazed to see the smile on every face that his eyes saw in India. To feel like being a part of the big human ocean, you have to come here and spend a few days with the people. There was this pack of Australian fans that came to India and travelled with the cricket team to cheer them.

Ken from Queensland was one of the ardent Aussie fans in India. Ken didn't know much about an emergency situation back home and the frantic efforts to get in touch with him. In the meanwhile his friends in Australia, Julia and Claire spotted him amongst the crowd at Kolkata, while they were watching the match on TV. They immediately sent an e-mail to Cricinfo asking us to contact Ken as soon as possible. We swung into action and made an announcement through the public address system at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, during the third Test match. Luckily, Ken was present in the stadium and he got in touch with his family immediately. It is a wonderful moment when cricket unites people.