Meeting the next match

The World Cup is going to be a very,very difficult act to follow. Most of us have had our fill of cricket; those who haven’t might find it downright confusing to see Sachin Tendulkar embrace Lasith Malinga as a teammate when only days earlier the Sri Lankan fast bowler had celebrated taking the Indian Idol’s wicket. Sure,there will be a degree of comfort in reuniting with old foes and friends although it’s difficult to think of Zaheer Khan as a foe,even if you support the Deccan Chargers. Can you,the loyal viewer,go from being an ultra-nationalist,a hysterical Indian fan — one who may even have left the gods facing the TV for good luck to India — to being a Kolkata Knight Rider or Delhi Daredevil? This demands a tremendous leap of faith and who knows how many of us can bridge the distance?

If you are a sublime long jump creature,you may still find it difficult to work up a passion for the game many purists do not even consider to be cricket but rather,a pyjama-party between teams whose names suggest the Masters of the Universe — remember those toy warriors? Can you hear yourself shouting “Go,Chennai,go” when you see the new god of cricket,M.S. Dhoni lead out the Super Kings? Somehow,it just doesn’t sound right.

Ideally,the IPL tournament should have been held later so that the players and the viewers had enough time to catch their breath after the marathon of the World Cup that lasted all of 43 days. Unfortunately,the IPL cannot be played at any other time because the cricketers from different regions of the cricketing world,especially the Indian players,are already scheduled to play during the rest of the year. So IPL is April fool or phool,depending on your point of view.

In all probability,it will take time for the IPL to sink into our consciousness. We are exhausted by the victory and the unstoppable celebrations that followed for the next two days and still linger on. Television news,in particular,has been partying ever since the Cup was handed over to India,because once the final was over,they could cover as much of the action as they wanted,wherever they wanted,without the ICC telling them to buzz off. It was an unseemly stand-off between the two over how much cricket TV news channels are permitted to show. The more the better for the ICC,you’d have thought,since it made us hunger for more. For instance,cricket junkies watched highlights of India’s final three matches in one marathon three-hour sitting,Sunday evening,courtesy Star Cricket.

The celebrations and the coverage went to town,literally. From Mumbai,Delhi,Kolkata,Chennai,Ranchi we were shown the most extraordinary scenes of joy,live,till the early hours of Sunday morning. And then some. We had never seen such a famous victory in 28 years (as TV news never ceased to remind us) nor such an exhibition of uninhibited rapture as India went to the top of the world and then over the top.

We’d also never seen so much of film stars,business magnates,politicians waving the Indian Tricolour like it was the chequered flag at the finishing line or,what Yuvraj Singh looks like at 3 am (the same) and Kapil Dev in tears (Headlines Today). It was moving and we were moved. Now it’s time to move on.

shailaja.bajpai@expressindia.com