It is one thing to have expectations, and it is very human to be disappointed.
But it takes a very mean person to unload blame on an individual when a team's performance is involved. It takes a very stupid person to do that when the team is playing a sport, in a tournament in which 11 teams won't win. Clearly, we Indians are in no short supply for mean or stupid people, when 48%, according to a poll on Cricinfo, think Dhoni's errors cost us the World T20, in response to Dhoni's measured reference to IPL after match parties taking a toll on players and resulting fatigue.
Less than two weeks ago, the same MS Dhoni was at the top of his tactical game, when he won the IPL for Chennai Super Kings. It would take some imagination to think he would have drained his acumen on the flight to the Caribbean. Ravi Shastri called India's performance "pathetic", and Madan Lal has accused Dhoni of making "lame excuses". In his young career, MS Dhoni has won more for India than these two clowns could ever dream of. And he's still playing, and playing great, dominant, world beating cricket. Let's not forget it wasn't until Dhoni took over as captain that India reached the #1 spot in Tests and we're almost there in ODIs. I bet some of these bastards will scramble to say Dhoni has the best team India has ever produced! Bless the team when we win and blame the captain when we lose? Some consistency this!
To be capable of scathing criticism, one must be a top performer. Ravi Shastri and Madan Lal were never top performers. Madan Lal used to bowl a little quicker than Anil Kumble, and field like a rabbit with three paws missing. The only reason he didn't look as "pathetic" as he was, was because a certain stalwart by the name of Kapil Dev would be bowling beautifully from the other end. Ravi Shastri was a hopeless grafter who managed to gather fifties and win an Audi in the World Series Cup only because Srikkanth was blazing away at the other end. For these bloodsucking leeches to come out of the woodwork and opportunistically attack MS Dhoni is a new low, but it is very Indian.
South Africa, perhaps the most "professional" outfit in the world, also exited the World T20, in the same stage as India. No fuss. So did the West Indies, and New Zealand, who have hammered India on a few occasions in this format. No fuss. India lose, the country wants to burn Dhoni and his team. The callous way in which our news media makes this look like the team needs some sort of punishment for losing should tell us a lot about our national character. Nobody, including the Padma Shri decorated journalists have an ounce of character that MS Dhoni has. It is time to show him some respect. Win some, lose some, even the mighty Aussies were humbled on a day that belonged to England.
If Dhoni has enough gravity to not blame any individual players, if he has the guts to back young Ravindra Jadeja, and if he stands by his decisions, he can just as easily point to the not too distant past of his captaincy and remind us of the first World T20, beating Australia in Australia, beating South Africa, the West Indies, and the quiet ascendancy to the top of the world rankings and tell everyone to shut up. But he has cautiously and politely got us to examine the excesses of the IPL, that have left players with insufficient rest, and given a gentlemanly wake up call to those running on the assumption that carrying no injury equals fitness and those ignorant of the truth that fitness in competitive sport is having enough in the tank to pull out something extra when needed.
None of our players had anything extra when needed, except the kilos of weight Yuvraj has put on. Dhoni still kept faith in him, for one simple reason - he is a proven match winner. He is the 6-sixer hitter, remember? Our players did their best under the circumstances. Let's not forget that for a moment. The circumstances were however, inclusive of an obligation to party through the night, thanks to that asshole Lalit Modi selling the video rights for those parties for a whopping fifty million dollars! Can he be blamed for this debacle? No! Because he is there precisely to be the super commercial minded asshole missionary that can make the IPL richer! No trouble understanding that, have we?
Now, let's look at this rubbish notion that players are keener on playing in the IPL than for the country? Didn't we all take pride that India's IPL is the richest league in the world? Didn't we all glow in glee with the meteoric rise of the IPL? How un-Indian is the IPL? It is also a part of our cricketing folklore isn't it? How many of us know that the BCCI is a Trust that doesn't pay taxes? That is who our players are playing for, not India, get it? If the trust pays less than an IPL franchise, what's wrong in playing better for the franchise? It is clearly the sensible thing to do, is it not? Even though it may be too much for our pea brains to wrap around, facts are facts.
We want our players to be professionals, so that they get better at what they do. Being professional is about making rational choices, not emotionally clouded ones. Our cricket team is the best 15 we have in this country. We cannot "infuse it with new blood" as Ravi Shastri suggests, since the second tier in quality has some catching up to do. This lot is not old, and is a supremely fit unit, given enough rest. There is enough and more firepower and quality to take us to many more highs. It would be absurd to imagine this lot would suddenly become as mediocre as our older generation of cricketers or our media.
The Chennai Super Kings is a success story. It is a success story because it has plenty of good brains behind it. Great ethics, good display of everything needed to be a winning item. The BCCI is not such a good show. It has been around far too long in mediocrity to be suddenly rid of its problems, but it is taking some steps right. The Chennai Super Kings didn't party through the night. Many other teams did. The results are there to show. MS Dhoni, the superb athlete that he is, said the right thing about taking care of the body. He has taken care of his, while the others aren't such shining examples.
The media, rightly admonished by Amitabh Bachchan, should apologize to Dhoni for going overboard with criticism, most of it unwarranted. Our media is full of unprofessional goof ups! From calling Hindi the National Language, to unquestioningly accept that Barack Obama is indeed the USA's first black president, there has been ignorance, apathy, incompetence and sheer stupidity from many of the idiots who fill the idiot box. Compared to this, and our country's 134th position in the Human Development Index, Dhoni and his boys are way, way ahead.
The consummate gentleman that he is, and the intelligent person that he is, MS Dhoni has remained aloof, and even said how quickly things can change from love to hatred with the Indian public. The media is definitely to blame in adding fuel to any flame, whether it is positive or negative, all in the name of getting ratings. But actually, it is more than that. It is a cheap catering to the Indian Mob Mentality, which is there to bash anyone into the ground if that person is not in a position to hit back. We do not attack corrupt politicians that actually affect our lives do we? But we have no problem stoning cricketers' houses, burning effigies and going overboard with our boys who are not even 30 years old!
By the way, the most anti-national act I have ever seen from any cricketer is from Sunil Gavaskar. I respect him for many other things, but there is no way I will forgive him for carrying his bat for 60 overs and scoring 36 not out, in a game in which we were chasing over 300. THAT is the generation that produced the unheroes who tried not to lose too embarrassingly, who paid more attention to their attire than diving for a catch, and that is the lot that led a pampered life, neither setting great expectations nor reaching for great heights, playing less than half the time today's boys do, and losing ten times as many games.
The Indian cricket team of today deserves all the accolades they get. I have no problems with them making millions of any kind of money. I have no problems if they party late into any night, and I have no problem if they get sex from waitresses and adoring female fans at parties. They play great cricket, and that is their dharma, and they know they are good. It isn't easy being #1 or #2 in the world in any sport.
Let's see what we can do to bring our country upto the #1 and #2 spots in ANY other damn field! Till then, shut up about MS Dhoni. He and his boys have already done great for us.
BSK
