There would be a million sports fanatics who would claim just like me, that the love for the sport is above and always precedes the love for one’s own country. To seem politically correct, we hide the jingoism within us when our country is being pitted against a foreign opposition. Any rational sports aficionado would evaluate the strengths of both the playing teams, as in the case of the current India-SA cricket series and come to a conclusion that the S. African team deserves to win because they have field a better playing 11, and probably another set of non-playing 22 too!
But what does a team do when there is adversity staring in the face in the form of a better quality, and in this case an arrogantly pompous opposition? Be nice losers? Well, there surely isn’t much humility required in the first place if one does not end up on the winning side! There are instances aplenty within the domain of cricket itself, the very mention of which should pump up the adrenalin of a sportsman and invigorate the fervour to win which is almost as important as the skill itself!
The moment of today- Sreesanth’s amusing concoction of the Arabic belly dance and Mallu-land Dampanguttu (a word that Tamilians use to indicate “dancing at will”) exemplifies this spirit of the vehement desire to win against a team and an individual (Andre Nel- Kill the bastard!!!) that prides on its caliber, what if sledging is a critical constituent of the end result! For all we know, the Indians might still end up on the losing side in the series, but all that a spectator investing 8 hours almost meditating in front on the television wants is purely a reaffirmation of the zeal to win, not the win itself.
But what does a team do when there is adversity staring in the face in the form of a better quality, and in this case an arrogantly pompous opposition? Be nice losers? Well, there surely isn’t much humility required in the first place if one does not end up on the winning side! There are instances aplenty within the domain of cricket itself, the very mention of which should pump up the adrenalin of a sportsman and invigorate the fervour to win which is almost as important as the skill itself!
The moment of today- Sreesanth’s amusing concoction of the Arabic belly dance and Mallu-land Dampanguttu (a word that Tamilians use to indicate “dancing at will”) exemplifies this spirit of the vehement desire to win against a team and an individual (Andre Nel- Kill the bastard!!!) that prides on its caliber, what if sledging is a critical constituent of the end result! For all we know, the Indians might still end up on the losing side in the series, but all that a spectator investing 8 hours almost meditating in front on the television wants is purely a reaffirmation of the zeal to win, not the win itself.
I agree that there are surely less animated ways of doing the same, something that the 2 pillars of our cricket culture, Sachin & Rahul show us from time to time by letting only the 38” wooden instrument do the talking- But the game would lack on the entertainment value minus the public displays similar to that of Dada waving his shirt, Kumble punching the air with his fist with a bandaged head (the picture-perfect moment when he got Lara LBW after he was hit on the head), Rahul himself giving a mouthful and a bat-full back to Donald on the 96-97 ODI series & Sehwag’s utter disdain for the Aussie bowlers during the last tour to the Oz-land- These are moments that spiral off two things, one- bring alive the Indian in us and two- create un-viewable one-hour segments on primetime news with stalwarts of immense repute such as Yashpal Sharma, Chetan Sharma & Madanlal beaming on the camera with "Rajnigandha & Prince gutkha" plagued million dollar smiles! Great they can feel happy about the game, now that their prestigious careers are over!
What a small gesture like that can do to the team can’t be quantified. I mean, the scorers did not add another 36 runs to the 6 that they already added, just because Sreeshanth broke into a jig that one only witnesses the Delhiites do at typical “Chom” Delhi weddings. But the impact of such an “in-your-face” antic was visible from the way the team fielded after that. Such a public display of emotion stirs the other team-mates up into believing that all is not lost and in fact, what seemed insurmountable moments ago can be conquered!
Just a small reality check though, which the sport itself will keep providing from time to time to budding and to use a rather strong word, mediocre players (Sreesanth still has a long way to go, as opposed to the sudden revelation to the two “Chom” Sharmas- Yashpal & Chetan who will go back to their irritating, morose and populist comments as soon as Mr. Sreesanth gets back to his wayward, short & outside the leg stump, in other words- Ajit Agarkar ways); that such display of style should be backed by substance- and at least for today the Mallu- boy deserves every sticky-eyeball (Am habituated to using that term, thanks to the industry that I am in) that he got on our 40 odd national news channels. Truly, in the words of John Dryden- None but the brave deserves the fair! And as once Mr. Arun Shourie quoted on national news related to the Kashmir issue, our response to a piece of aggression need not really be as impulsive and clichéd as a “tooth for a tooth, and an eye of an eye”. In situations with one’s back to the wall, it needs to be “both eyes for an eye, and for the tooth, the whole jaw”! And for over-confident buggers like Andre Nel & Graeme Smith, perhaps the skull too!
Mr. Sreesanth- I blame your frolic for once again killing the rational sports lover in me, even if for a few days and for once again bringing out the xenophobic & jingoistic Indian in me, a label that we so shy away from displaying, often in an attempt to appear so prim & correct and paradoxically, so English!
What a small gesture like that can do to the team can’t be quantified. I mean, the scorers did not add another 36 runs to the 6 that they already added, just because Sreeshanth broke into a jig that one only witnesses the Delhiites do at typical “Chom” Delhi weddings. But the impact of such an “in-your-face” antic was visible from the way the team fielded after that. Such a public display of emotion stirs the other team-mates up into believing that all is not lost and in fact, what seemed insurmountable moments ago can be conquered!
Just a small reality check though, which the sport itself will keep providing from time to time to budding and to use a rather strong word, mediocre players (Sreesanth still has a long way to go, as opposed to the sudden revelation to the two “Chom” Sharmas- Yashpal & Chetan who will go back to their irritating, morose and populist comments as soon as Mr. Sreesanth gets back to his wayward, short & outside the leg stump, in other words- Ajit Agarkar ways); that such display of style should be backed by substance- and at least for today the Mallu- boy deserves every sticky-eyeball (Am habituated to using that term, thanks to the industry that I am in) that he got on our 40 odd national news channels. Truly, in the words of John Dryden- None but the brave deserves the fair! And as once Mr. Arun Shourie quoted on national news related to the Kashmir issue, our response to a piece of aggression need not really be as impulsive and clichéd as a “tooth for a tooth, and an eye of an eye”. In situations with one’s back to the wall, it needs to be “both eyes for an eye, and for the tooth, the whole jaw”! And for over-confident buggers like Andre Nel & Graeme Smith, perhaps the skull too!
Mr. Sreesanth- I blame your frolic for once again killing the rational sports lover in me, even if for a few days and for once again bringing out the xenophobic & jingoistic Indian in me, a label that we so shy away from displaying, often in an attempt to appear so prim & correct and paradoxically, so English!
To witness the moment, watch the video on
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