India and the Champions Trophy –

“In India cricket is not just a sport, it’s a religion”. This is a statement that one can come across numerous times in various blogs and newspaper articles. It seems that the very people who are supposed to uphold the pillars of this religion and lift them to the sky are the one’s digging its grave. The high priest of this religion aka – The Indian Cricket Team, a squad of elite few who are chosen from a crowd of millions to carry on the light of this religion to the future seem to be faltering in their journey. It was quite obviously a marketing decision to put arch rivals India and Pakistan in the same group and if that wasn’t enough, India’s opening match of the tournament was also against them.

Winning or Losing has always been part and parcel of any sport. What matters most is the attitude of the sides playing. India were the hot favorites as they were ranked ‘1’ in the ICC cricket ranking (surprisingly..!!). That’s the thing with the ICT, when they start as hero’s they have this unique knack of making a fool of themselves and it has been proved time and again. This time was no different. The beauty of this game is that even-though it takes a total 100 overs to complete a match, however sometimes one can decide the outcome even before a single ball is bowled, i.e, at the toss. Whatever may be the cause, the team lost and with the last match being washed off due to rain the chances of India reaching the Semi’s are not only difficult but rather impossible(true Bollywood style).

The attitude is the most important part of any team, winning or losing regardless. One of the reasons that the ICT could make to the top if the ICC table of rankings was also due to their fearless attitude. However they seem to be loosing it. The excuses given by the captain for the defeat were poor even by previous ICT’s standards. He should have been bold enough to confess that they played real poor cricket and let the country down. Had they focused more on the game than on scoring game on television, the result might have been different. This confession at-least would have helped them score some points with the public of the country for admitting their failure and taking responsibility for it. Instead he made a mockery of himself by saying “I did not know so many runs could be scored at the backward point region (priceless..!!!).” Or “We were three bowlers short (yes as most of the teams these days play 8 bowlers and the team consists of 14 players.)”. It was sad that they lost but what was worse was the attitude towards the defeat. May be the team should be shown video’s of their previous exploits where they had played like true champions and probably that might help them see the light. Whatever be the course of action if the team does not get their attitude back on track, they downfall is eminent.