The unthinkable has happened. Captain Marvel has lost his crown and mad Indians have started baying for his throne. But then what more can one expect of a nation that values success at any cost, but individually has failure written all over?
India lost to England and the media and its millions of news lapping rabid followers have started to bark. The media had already behaved like a responsible one by warming up with stories of rifts within the team even before India’s campaign got underway. And as the days go by, the bark is only going to get louder. Dhoni’s effigy has been burnt at Ranchi under 24 hours of defeat. And I won't be surprised if the effigies of other players are burnt too, stones pelted at their homes, and their near and dear ones humiliated.
And the single logic will be if you make the money you do, then you bloody well win. To me it’s more of anger at not being able to make the kind of money that some cricketers make than ire at the team having lost. Also, gamblers who foolishly betted on Team India thinking the other teams were just around to make Dhoni and his boys look good will vent out their frustration on having lost neat sums of money.
Advertisers and marketing professionals who backed Team India to win will also be spewing venom. And politicians will in all likelihood jump into to the fray to extract their pound of flesh.
Amid all this mess the real culprits responsible for India’s loss—the BCCI and the IPL—will walk free of much criticism for having milked these cricketers dry over 45 days of energy-sapping cricket in an alien land just 20 days before this World Cup.
Grow up India for every match cannot be won and Dhoni isn’t God. So be graceful, look above you selfish motives for grief, and allow the team its losses for if we look at the team’s performance since they won the T20 cup in 2007, they have won more often than lost. And all of us are allowed a few losses, some more than the others.
