Green tops and partisan crowds

I am now convinced.

The Bangladeshis are trying desperately to see us lose a match.

The suspicions were raised when for the Under 20 World Cup final match, they provided a green top, seamer friendly wicket.  The team, which had steamrolled the opposition up until the finals, were dismissed for nothing by the Windies bowlers.

And now, in the Asia Cup, for India's very first match against themselves, a green top was provided, and their side was packed with seamers.  Several commentators noted the unusual nature of the wicket for this match.

The Bangladeshis were waiting for an encore, perhaps.  The crowd was ready to bay for blood, and bring the roof down when their side won.

Only this time, India prevailed against them.  One can only be amazed at the disappointment writ large on the multitude of faces.

If ever you wanted to see partisanship in action, watch the Bangladeshi crowd in a cricket match.  When Virat Kohli was out, the ground probably shook because of the tumultuous celebration of the crowd.  Later, when their side was losing, almost the entire stadium had emptied.  Only a minuscule Indian supporters' group was active.

A wicket lost by their opposition is greeted with thunderous applause, whereas a boundary or a sixer is met with deathly silence.

I know it is only a game.  But one can discern deeper issues at play here.

Being one of our 'friendly' neighbours, there are two issues at play here: jealousy and hatred.

Yes, I am sticking my neck out and naming the underlying issues that make them behave the way they do against us.


Update (05/03/16):
Now that both us and them are in the finals, expect another green top, and their side packed with seamers.  Just saw a post on FB: they are at it again; one of their bowlers holding Dhoni's severed head; anymore proof needed?

Update (07/03/16):
India win Asia Cup for the 6th time.  So who is holding whose head now?  Why do the Bangladeshi fans behave as though their side will win every game against every team?  This is the problem with ascribing so much of emotional investment and national pride with a game.  It would probably serve them better if they looked at other more important aspects, such as this.

Image sources:
http://www.oneindia.com/img/2016/02/13-1455357000-ishankishan-shimronhetmyer-u19wc-600.jpg
http://images.indianexpress.com/2016/02/asia-cup-2016-m.jpg

Tonsured wisdom

A Bangladeshi daily called Prothom Aloo - sorry, couldn't resist that one - has caricatured Indian cricketers by showing them with half-tonsured heads, while their bowler Mustafizur Rehman holds a barber's knife to indicate how well he bowled his off-cutters.

All this after he was coached by an Indian bowler, Ranadeb Bose.    

While all this can be dismissed as nothing more than an immature brat's brazen self-indulgence, it is also symptomatic, I reckon, of the deep-rooted hatred that the eastern neighbours possess towards us.    

This fact keeps re-asserting itself and surfaces time and again.  In the world cup game, another of their cricketers, Rubel had to be restrained by his teammates; otherwise he would have ended up assaulting Kohli, by the looks of it.  

In the same world cup, the entire population of Bangladesh, including the leader of the country, believed that they had been cheated of a win against India, and poured out their vitriol on message boards.  

Even in the recent series, Sudhir Chaudhary - the Indian fan who paints himself in the tri-colours and is seen in every match - was harassed by Bangladeshi fans as he exited the stadium.  

It is also highly mature, I think, of both the BCCI and the players themselves to have not taken up the issue with the daily.  There was a serious case for suing the paper here.  

No, we are not going to whine and stoop to their level with a tit for tat response.  Somebody said it right; the best way to answer is on the cricketing field.  

The scribes behind this distasteful idea as well as the people of Bangladesh should understand that this is only a game of cricket.  There are far more serious issues due to which they might have to consider shaving their own heads in shame.

Perhaps they can begin by taking back all the millions of illegal immigrants who have found to need to desert their country and seek refuge in India.

Maybe they can protect the rights of the Hindu minorities in their own country, many of whom have been ostracised and persecuted over the years.

Or how about ensuring freedom of speech by making sure none of the progressive bloggers are hacked to death openly on the streets?

So grow up, if you can, and get a life.



Image source: http://s.ndtvimg.com/images/content/2015/jun/806/mustafizur-bangladesh-barber-india.jpg

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