Let?s face it ? Indian cricket is at an all time low. That India is playing a series against Sri Lanka has just about passed unnoticed. Whether these are ominous signs for cricket or whether this is just an aberration thanks to the Beijing Olympics is difficult to predict. One thing however is certain ? this isn?t too bad for our cricket and also our cricketers. Far more importantly, it is of singular importance for Indian sport overall, in our quest to develop a sporting culture of our own.
The question of the Sri Lanka series hogging headlines could have arisen only in India. In Britain for example the start of the English Premier League has been far more muted this season. Rebecca Adlington?s heroics at the Beijing Water Cube occupied prime space in the English dailies relegating the EPL to the inside pages.
In India, however, the conception was profoundly different. The assumption was, come what may, cricket would continue to reign supreme in the Indian psyche. That it was the Olympics, the world?s single biggest sporting spectacle, was hardly given due consideration. Such assumptions, analysis reveals, weren?t totally unreasonable. Miserable Indian performances at the Games and a spate of post Games introspections with nothing coming out of them has contributed to relegating Olympic sport to a footnote in the Indian sporting pantheon.
Beijing, however, has been different and refreshingly so. A gold on the third day of the Games, quite unexpectedly one must confess, acted as a major catalyst to bringing about a sea change. Suddenly, thanks to Abhinav Bindra, the Olympics made banner headlines across the country. FM stations had started giving us Olympic updates and entertainment channels had suddenly discovered a new celebrity.
Importantly for India, the raised bar did not come down soon after. They may not have earned a medal but Leander and Mahesh did their bit by making it to the quarter-finals. And Saina Nehwal, in a pleasantly unexpected development for Indian badminton, had united the country by her giant killing acts at Beijing. All of a sudden the nation celebrated the birth of new stars and multinationals were spoilt for a choice of brand ambassadors. Never before in Indian sporting history for example has boxing been raised to such a pedestal. It wouldn?t be an exaggeration to suggest that the unprecedented display by the Bhiwani band has suddenly made punching bags fashionable.
Indian cricketers have also contributed to this sudden turn of events. Failing time and again against Mendis and Murali, cricket had suddenly lost appeal in India?s national imaginary. With a high profile series against Australia approaching, such a development isn?t bad after all.
Cricket, the sport, was gradually giving way to public entertainment in India. While celebrating mega successes like the IPL, the purist in me was craving somewhat for a return of the sport that had transformed a nation some twenty-five years earlier. Successes at Beijing and a dismal performance in Sri Lanka made it possible. Against Australia in October at least, we hardly need any of the public entertainment of associated with spectacles like the IPL. It will be a hard fought battle in the twenty-two yard strip that will determine the ultimate winner and for our cricketers to be in a proper frame a low might just be the injection they needed.