Cricket – India’s National Game?

The shaky performances of India's Hockey Team have made people skeptical about Hockey's national game status

India’s former test captain, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, or Nawab Pataudi, as we better know him, has once again given fire to the debate – ‘Should cricket be made the national game of India, taking the status away from hockey?’ In a recent comment, he suggested his opinion which was immediately ridiculed by many former hockey Olympians.

There is no doubting Indian cricket team’s current success in the field. They not only established their supremacy in the new Twenty-20 version of the game by winning the world cup but by defeating the Australians and then the English team at home in the original form of the game, they proved their mettle in tests as well. The current team is anointed with legends like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, consistent openers like Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag, a match winner in Yuvraj Singh, a wonderful strike bowling pair of Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma, a classic off-spinner in Harbhajan Singh and above all, an able and efficient wicket keeper-batsman-leader in Mahendra Singh Dhoni. When combined as a unit, they make arguably one of the best teams India has ever had in the game of cricket.

The present Indian cricket team is arguably the best ever

Let me now analyse what the national game of a country means. National game of a country is the game which is considered the intrinsic part of the culture of that country. We all know, cricket in India is not merely a sport, it is a religion. We all remember what we were doing when Sreesanth took that catch of Misbah-ul-Haq to win the Twenty-20 world cup for India just like we remember what we were doing when we got the shocking news of the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. Cricket unites us all. It’s a common scene on the streets seeing people asking from scores from otherwise unknown shopkeepers who enjoy the ‘luxury’ watching the live match even at their workplace! Every cricket lover in India is a cricket ‘expert’ having his/her views on every match, every ball and every decision taken either by the captain, or the team management or even the BCCI.

Major Dhyanchand's birthday on August 29 is celebrated as National Sports Day every year

But does all this make cricket eligible to be the national game of India and take this status from hockey? My opinion is no. Most of us (at least me!) were not even born at the time when Indian hockey team was nothing short of invincible and the entire country remained glued to their radio sets listening to the detail of every pass, every move being made on the field by the incomparable commentators like Jasdev Singh and Anupam Gulati. The superhuman abilities of Major Dhyanchand with the hockey stick forced Hitler to offer him a commission in the German army, which he gracefully rejected. No other Indian sportsman has ever made such an impact. If there was electronic and web media coverage at that time as it is today, the former hockey Olympians, who won eight gold medals for India at the Olympics would have enjoyed the same superstar status as our current cricketers and not lead the kind of lives that many of them are leading now. The Indian government and sports authorities have not done enough to recognise their contribution to Indian sports.

Their most prized possession is their gold medals and the respect which all the Indian sports fans have for them. Taking away the status of national game from hockey, the sport to which they have devoted their lives, would be the most unfair thing to do to them as well to the numerous sports fans of the country. There may be a time after, say 20 years, when Indian football team, or maybe Indian tennis stars come out as world beaters. We all would love such a thing to happen but would it mean that we again change our national game to football or tennis? Surely, no! So why do it to cricket today?

To be frank and true, the being the national game, or for that matter the national animal, national flower, etc., etc., serves only one purpose – securing one mark to the primary standard students in their General Knowledge examination. So why hurt the feelings of those many legends of hockey for just that one mark?

The secret lies behind those stumps

December 30, 2008 was a very special day for the world of cricket. The South African team defeated the Aussies at Melbourne thus gaining an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series. The South African victory at the kangaroos’ own backyard after the Indian men in blue sent them back reeling is a landmark in the cricketing world as it ends years of Australian domination in the gentleman’s game.

Is the retirement of Gilchrist the main cause of Australian cricket's decline

The cricket pundits have attributed the downfall of Australian cricket to many factors. The most prominent of those is the retirement of many of the senior cricketers like Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Justin Langer and Adam Gilchrist. Let me analyse the situation and present my view point on the same.

One major factor governing the success of any team in cricket, in its original form that is test cricket, is a strong and able leadership. Before i proceed any further, let me clear the phrase ‘original form’ which i have used above. Test cricket is the oldest and definitely the original form of cricket. I say this because cricket was never meant to be a 20 or 50 overs batsmen’s comedy in which the team which scores more runs is the winner. Original cricket is a game of skill, temperament, and most importantly strategy. Limited overs version of the game surely involves skill but there is minimal strategic involvement when compared with test cricket.

Many regard Clive Lloyd as the greatest captain ever

Test cricket is like the dense jungles of Africa viewed from the top. The quiet and peaceful top view is actually an abstracted view of the actual intense struggle for survival going on in the wild. Same is true for test cricket where only the true lovers of the game and the players get to see the real picture and this is where the role of a quality leadership comes into play. The think tank of the team has to devise strategies on every day of the game to ensure the team’s success. The most important part of the team’s think tank is the captain of the team. We have seen captains who, by their able leadership, have contributed to the success of their teams. Ian Chappell, Richie Benaud, Allan Border, Clive Lloyd, Kapil Dev, Imran Khan, Arjuna Ranatunga, Steve Waugh and Sourav Ganguly are just to name a few.

Steve Waugh with the Ashes

In the recent past, the Australian success has been marked by able and efficient captains like Allan Border, Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh. After the retirement of Waugh, Ricky Ponting took over and the Aussies continued their world domination. In the post-Waugh Australian success, Ponting was very ably supported by their wicket keeper cum vice captain Adam Gilchrist. Since the day Ponting took over the captaincy, his brat image and the task of leading the Australian team never seemed to go hand in hand to me. There is no point doubting the credibility of Ponting as a batsman. In fact, he is arguably the best Australian batsman after Sir Don but when it comes to captaincy, i have always had my doubts. But the

Ponting's credibility as a captain is under the scanner

support which Gilchrist provided him along with the might of some magnificent cricketers, this fact always remained concealed. But the retirement of Gilchrist has exposed this vulnerability of Ponting’s captaincy.

But this is not where my discussion ends. Although legends like McGrath and Warne too retired around the same time as Gilchrist but i specifically point out to Gilchrist as he held the wicket keeping gloves for many years and i consider the wicket keeper of the team to be the best reader of the game. The wicket keeper is the only person on the field who has to concentrate on each and every delivery bowled and this puts him in a position to understand the game more than anyone else. In fact, in my opinion, an able and experienced wicket keeper is always the best choice for the captaincy of a team provided he can hold his nerves to handle the enormous pressure of wicket keeping and captaincy together. This is exactly the blend what the Indian team has got in form of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his captaincy is one of the chief contributing

Dhoni has been instrumental in India's recent success

factors towards the Indian team’s recent success whether it be the series against Australia or the recently concluded England series. Who can forget the contribution of Andy Flower to Zimbabwean cricket or Alec Stewart to the English team? Mark Boucher’s experience and

Andy Flower is the greatest ever Zimbabwean cricketer

contribution to the Proteas’ success is yet another example of this point. And if not the captain, the wicket keeper being the vice captain, or even an important contributing member of the team’s think tank is yet another asset to any team. In an December, 2000 interview with cricinfo.com, Kiran More, India’s ex-wicket keeper and ex-chairman of the BCCI’s selection committee, supports this point.

The importance of the job of the wicket keeper in the game is second to none and with limited overs version of the game making cricket more batsman oriented, a good wicket keeper who carries with him the qualities of a good batsman and an efficient leader will definitely be any team’s most prized possession.

Note: This is just an observation and view point of an avid cricket follower and cricket lover. Comments and suggestions are invited from every reader.