The much talked about world cup starts this month, February 19th to be specific ,in the sub-continent (except in terrror prone pakistan). The cricket fever is getting better and better ( rather worse and worse) .People are recalling their or their team’s world-cup memories as if it happened just day before yesterday. The media is going really crazy about this mega event ( they got to be so, right) , so much so that even our own dearest child ‘ IPL ‘ has been forgotten , to certain extent ( except some crazy club followers ), leave alone other games .
Memories :
World-cup memories are always in their own league , completely different from those of common games . Be it Ganguly’s magnificent 186 at taunton(1999) , or tendulkar hammering of 97 against pakistan (2003) , venkatesh Prasad’s silent revenge against pakistan (1996), or the mammoth total India posted against poor Bermuda (which by the way is the only memorable thing in 2007edition ), they are all special . They are really great for the pressure involved in these matches , for the added expectations put on their game , for the fact that world cup is played once in four years . How can any Indian (which implies a cricket fan ) forget them , rather think of forgetting them ! Kolkata people creating havoc when India suddenly slumped in 1996 semi-final , India doing a phoenix act in 2003 WC to finish runners up after starting tournament miserably ,India – pak exiting very early in the longest world cup 2007 making it damn boring, not even dark-horses India winning 1983 world cup , a guy called sandeep pateel taking Kenya from nowhere to the semi-final in 2003, are all unbelievable as well as unforgettable in their true senses. That’s the glory attached to the tournament called ‘World cup’ .
The chances of winning :
Whatever may be the rankings say , whatever may be the recent formbook may say Australia are the firm contenders for this world cup , it is obviously the fitting tribute to the country which won three world cups in a row, which even Caribbean kings couldn’t do at their prime . South Africa has a firm chance , with the form and class they have in their ranks.Sri Lanka and India are real time challengers , more so since they are the joint hosts. As usual NZ and Pakistan will be dark horses ( though both seem to be completely out of sorts internally). England is as good as bangla and windies ,at least in 50 over’s format .But definitely we can expect more surprises from Bangladesh than from England. Apparently this is going to be the most open world cup in recent times .
Whatever may be the rankings say , whatever may be the recent formbook may say Australia are the firm contenders for this world cup , it is obviously the fitting tribute to the country which won three world cups in a row, which even Caribbean kings couldn’t do at their prime . South Africa has a firm chance , with the form and class they have in their ranks.Sri Lanka and India are real time challengers , more so since they are the joint hosts. As usual NZ and Pakistan will be dark horses ( though both seem to be completely out of sorts internally). England is as good as bangla and windies ,at least in 50 over’s format .But definitely we can expect more surprises from Bangladesh than from England. Apparently this is going to be the most open world cup in recent times .
But…:
Well , all fair and good with respect to cricket . What about the other games ? If you still remember last year the hockey world cup happened to be held in India , can anyone compare the preparations (people’s mental preparation I’m talking about ) of that to this one , even the commonwealth games wouldn’t have made so much noise if the athletes haven’t performed so brilliantly and if there was not the scam which hogged limelight more than games itself at some point of time .Remember , people talked about ODIs as the dying format , and the two nations who played very first ODI have scrapped 50over format in their domestic level. And still it gathers so much enthusiasm from us Indians . Because as they say in Indian sub-continent cricket is not just a game , it’s a religion which unites them, instead of dividing . But this religion united people so much so that , we’re becoming ( became , still becoming ) blind to other disciplines . We’re so much addicted to cricket that other games are neglected to the core , even India getting hammered 0-8 in hockey by Australia accounts for second sports page news . The best example of effects of over-supporting cricket is the gradual decline of the hockey , and even football ( may be surprising but India was eligible to play 1950 football world cup !!!). I’m not saying we all should suddenly stop following cricket and turn towards other games , but rather I’m saying it’s the best time to think about other games too...
Well , all fair and good with respect to cricket . What about the other games ? If you still remember last year the hockey world cup happened to be held in India , can anyone compare the preparations (people’s mental preparation I’m talking about ) of that to this one , even the commonwealth games wouldn’t have made so much noise if the athletes haven’t performed so brilliantly and if there was not the scam which hogged limelight more than games itself at some point of time .Remember , people talked about ODIs as the dying format , and the two nations who played very first ODI have scrapped 50over format in their domestic level. And still it gathers so much enthusiasm from us Indians . Because as they say in Indian sub-continent cricket is not just a game , it’s a religion which unites them, instead of dividing . But this religion united people so much so that , we’re becoming ( became , still becoming ) blind to other disciplines . We’re so much addicted to cricket that other games are neglected to the core , even India getting hammered 0-8 in hockey by Australia accounts for second sports page news . The best example of effects of over-supporting cricket is the gradual decline of the hockey , and even football ( may be surprising but India was eligible to play 1950 football world cup !!!). I’m not saying we all should suddenly stop following cricket and turn towards other games , but rather I’m saying it’s the best time to think about other games too...
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Subramanya R.Angadi , mostly known as Subbu is known for his ove kannada literature. A keen follower of tennis , he believes that Roger is God.
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