Truly, madly, deeply!

A first hand view of the action from Mumbai

BY DARSHAK MEHTA

An entire country went bonkers in the last fortnight of the Cricket World Cup 2011 (CWC).

In the week leading up to the final, newspapers including the venerable Times of India were covering cricket in at least one third of their pages every match day and usually, with a front page lead story. The TV channels were unwatchable with all manners of “experts” trying to sensationalise the most trivial and banal of incidents relating to the CWC.

An extremely weak fielding and bowling unit has won the Cup, but it was led well and the vaunted batting performed when required.

Cricket has become an all-encompassing circus. It seems it is not merely a game anymore – India’s national identity is inextricably linked up with it. The media shamelessly exploits the sport; and sobriety, accuracy, fair play etc in reporting is often alien.

In a competitive media marketplace spanning over a hundred TV channels and about 20 daily newspapers, the concentration is on differentiation of product and capturing eyeballs. Making something out of nothing is a speciality. Being outrageous is a necessity.

Aussie bashing and in particular, Ponting bashing, was a blood sport. It was quite disgusting to see. There is a worrying element of extremism and intolerance not just within the media, but amongst younger fans.

Then, there was a daily demand in the media for a “Bharat Ratna” for Sachin

And one could not escape the hoardings and the ads – they were everywhere. Having said that, I must admit that some of the ads (particularly, the Nike ones – check out You Tube) really hit the spot.

There was an ongoing scandal about tickets for the public – or the lack thereof. As and when India hosts another World Cup, the International Cricket Council (ICC) will certainly have learnt its lesson and hopefully will not let the sale or allocation of tickets be handled by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) or the states. Hardly any tickets were made available for the aam aadmi and they were being sold at ridiculous prices, in black - of course, for the crunch games. The powers that be had shamelessly cornered huge chunks of tickets, and only the elite and the dangerously desperate (who were prepared to face lathi charges by the Police) could lay their hands on these.

On the day of the Australia-India quarterfinal encounter, I flew to Ahmedabad from Mumbai in a plane full of cricket tourists out for the day. The moment we landed, there was a spontaneous and familiar roar within, “Indiiiaaaa, Indiiiaaa!”

I thought: India has become to cricket what Brazil is to soccer and what the USA is generally to the world: a superpower.

Not just film stars and business magnates but all manners of scoundrels and duffers have attached themselves to the game, apart from the genuine fans. A lot of these are involved in administering the game –unfortunately, at the highest levels.

There are about 15 politicians on the BCCI such as Sharad Pawar, Arun Jaitley, Narendra Modi, Rajiv Shukla, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Farooq Abdullah, Laloo Prasad Yadav, Anurag Thakur, Ranjib Biswal etc. etc. Most of them have never heard of corporate governance.

Mumbai was in lock-down mode for the Final. You couldn’t drive to within one kilometre of the stadium. The security was not just over-powering, it was oppressive and I was so tired of being “felt up” that I asked my last interlocutor whether they had any confidence in the job the six others before him had already done.

Tickets for the final reportedly changed hands for a lakh rupees each. Whilst the crying need was to augment capacity in our stadiums to meet the demand, amazingly the capacity of the Wankhede Stadium which hosted the final, was reduced by 20%! Mind you, after Rs 300+ crore spent on its makeover, the stadium does look pretty flash!

The atmosphere was electric. I was the most anonymous person I knew in my enclosure (I was a guest of the ICC). Haroon Lorgat, James Sutherland, Clive Lloyd, Adam Gilchrist, Tim May, Inderjit Bindra, Ranbir Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Anil and Tina Ambani, were all there.

Gilchrist kept telling me that there was no way any team could chase down 275 in a World Cup final. I believed him and lost Rs 700. I should have known better than to trust the opinion of a man who had himself prominently featured in the previous three World Cup finals!

As a native of Mumbai for over 30 years, I have seen some pretty spirited celebrations like Ganapathi Visarjan, Diwali etc., but what happened in end March and early April, particularly after India’s victory over Pakistan in the semi-finals and over Sri Lanka in the final, was totally crazy.

Mumbai took collective leave of its senses. To say the celebrations were euphoric would be an understatement. To label them deranged is probably more accurate.

When I drove back home from the stadium, Marine Drive was full of thousands of revellers dancing, honking, waving the Indian flag and high fiving strangers. It was scary!

The next day, various State Governments announced ridiculous rewards for our already well-paid cricketers. Who gave them the mandate to recklessly splurge taxpayers’ money? Private companies promised them more cars, houses etc.

One of the most ungracious aftermaths of the World Cup was the decision in the ICC meeting 48 hours after the final that the “minnows” such as Ireland, Canada et al would not participate in the next two World Cups. After their plucky performances, the least one could have hoped for was for some encouragement, but the BCCI chose not to play elder statesman and seems to have solidified its vote bank with Zimbabwe and Bangladesh (both badly administered “full” ICC members), who would have had the most to lose.

But what about the cricket itself, you ask?

An extremely weak fielding and bowling unit has won the Cup, but it was led well and the vaunted batting performed when required. However, a new Coach (if the BCCI have the sagacity, they should appoint either Tom Moody or Stephen Fleming) will have his work cut out, in not just improving the fielding (can there be any excuse except laziness and unprofessionalism when cellar dwellers like Bangladesh were, along with

Mumbai took collective leave of its senses. To say the celebrations were euphoric would be an understatement. To label them deranged is probably more accurate.

New Zealand, the best fielding outfit on show?) but also the bowling.

Harbhajan Singh persisted in bowling negative lines and seemed bent on containment - something that was sad to see. Zaheer was potent throughout and Yuvraj was our next best bowler.

When the Indian team tours Australia this coming summer, we are in for a humdinger of a series. The confidence of the Indians has never been higher and the Aussies have never had more self-doubt.

And best of all, anyone who wants to go will be able to buy tickets easily.

(Darshak Mehta is not a cricket tragic, he is a victim. This was his 8th World Cup)