Cricket, unstable minds and hatred

Okay we lost badly.  Perhaps we did not put up a fight in the semi-finals.  

But that does not mean that we riot, break TV sets or burn effigies.

It does not mean that we should cut our tongues, or jump from a building, as two cricket fanatics with unstable minds did after the loss.

Actually if anybody had suggested before the start of the world cup that India would be playing in the semis, we would have laughed uproariously.  

But they did make it to the big stage, and that in itself is a considerable achievement.

Leave aside our post-loss lamentations for a moment.  

Somebody else would be extremely happy about our exit from the world cup: the Bangladeshis.

Ever since the quarter-finals, they have been baying for our blood as they believe that we won the match by bribing ICC officials and umpires!

Everybody from the average fan, to the current ICC President (who happens to be a Bangladeshi), to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, sincerely believe that the officials were hand in glove with us in fixing decisions - all this in spite of several evidences to the contrary!

In the picture above, the Bangladeshi bowler would have probably assaulted Kohli had he not been restrained by his colleagues.

All these are symptomatic of the underlying hatred that they harbour towards India. 

This appears to be a feature of many smaller nations surrounding India - Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka being the others, apart from Bangladesh. 

Insurgency, illegal immigration, terrorism, border disputes and shooting fishermen, among other things, are the issues/tactics that these 'friendly' neighbours throw at us.

Is it because of our country's large size?  

Is it because of our economic progress?  

Is it because of our flourishing film industry, that people of these countries are so fond of following?

Is the reason for their hatred envy?  

Who knows?

Anyway, it is alright.  We still love them.  Peace and happiness to the people of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Coming back to the Men in Blue, they had a terrific run in the world cup, but came up against the familiar and seemingly insurmountable foe, Australia.  

If you leave out the last edition, we have never been able to break the Aussie jinx in world cup matches.

Probably it is to do with mindset - intense pressure gets to our players, and fear and lack of confidence set in.

How else can you explain winning 7 matches on the trot and then thoroughly under-performing against one team?   

So it is actually not surprising that they lost - Anushka or no Anushka.    

Yet, we still love our cricket team.  Better luck next time guys.  Think of what usually goes wrong with Australia, and work on improving it.

Now we can move on to IPL.  At least India can't lose in this tournament!  



Image sources:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/d2/2015_Cricket_World_Cup_Logo.svg/1200px-2015_Cricket_World_Cup_Logo.svg.png
http://p.imgci.com/db/PICTURES/CMS/208900/208949.jpg
http://s.ndtvimg.com/images/content/2015/mar/806/dhoni-aus.jpg