Opinion Krikkit in India!
BCCI considers Asian Games useless and doesnt seem too keen in promoting the sport beyond a dozen.
Once upon a time long,long ago,Douglas Adams brought into existence the people of Krikkit,a peace-loving,isolated planet that never realised there was more to the universe than themselves.
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy may be sci-fi but,safely ensconced in their mini kingdom at the Wankhede Stadium and making decisions worth a few thousand crores that annually affect the financial worth of a bunch of 20-odd players in this country that still claims to have the metaphorical population of 100 million (a mark that was crossed eons ago),the mandarins at the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are perfectly happy following in the footsteps of their predecessors (it doesnt really seem a coincidence that the planet was called Krikkit!).
There could be no other reason to believe that the Indian team is fighting for prestige and survival in a Test against New Zealand at home when the sport itself battles a different,and far more important and difficult challenge elsewhere — the Asian Games begin simultaneously and though India successfully fought for the games inclusion in the multi-discipline event,it will not be present when the competition actually kicks off.
For long,there has been clamour to include cricket in multi-disciplinary events like Olympics. Despite the riches (only in India) and the mob following (fans would be demeaning to those who truly love the sport,any sport),most teams have come to realise that nothing perhaps compares with a medal on the biggest sporting stage.
Unlike football,where the World Cup finals have 32 teams that come through a difficult,elaborate,four-yearly qualification process,crickets pinnacle remains a World Cup where 10 of the 12/14 teams automatically qualify while the rest play Russian roulette to make it to the competition. Given that,it is understandable if cricketers feel the itch to stand on the podium with the national anthem playing.
Not so in India. The BCCI considers Asian Games useless and doesnt seem too keen in promoting the sport beyond a dozen. China has been working on barging into the top league and may well do so,given their determination to be successful in anything they do,but other than that,the rise of newer teams is greeted within the BCCI as a token representation and a heartening achievement to be applauded for a brief while,not as something that must be supported sufficiently to develop properly.
And so,as teams like Pakistan,Sri Lanka,Bangladesh,Nepal,China,Malaysia et al fight for Asian supremacy,the BCCI has come out with a fresh list of contracted players for the coming season. Unlike Krikkit,whose inhabitants turned violent on realising they werent alone before returning to their idyllic serenity and acceptance of others,the BCCI still awaits the spaceship that would crash through its isolation.
By the way,Incheon,which will be hosting the 2014 Asian Games,has already spiked cricket from the list of sports it would like to host. Not that it would affect the Indian board in any way.
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