Cricket and the rest

I was a very staunch cricket fan in my school and college days...would miss classes to watch a test match,even one between India and Zimbabwe,would watch from the 1st ball to the last without missing a delivery in between.The knowledge of cricket statistics that I had could have been easily converted to an encyclopedia.I could tell you how many runs David Gower scored in the 2nd innings of his 16th test match,could tell you the directions in which Ravi Shastri hit Tilak Raj for six sixers in an over,predicted of a man called Rahul Dravid much before he came on the international arena and till today talk of a batsman called Dhruv Pandav who would have outshadowed Sachin Tendulkar,only if he lived.

I would think of cricket all the time,would dream of it,had sleepless night if I had a cricket match the next day and would cry if it rains.I would consider cricketing statistics as precious knowledge when I was not sure who won the Nobel Peace Prize that year.

However,I was not alone in this country; there were tens of thousands of people like me ready to waste lakhs of man-hours on any day India played cricket.Such has been the craze of our people for this game,which for all practical purpose is the National game of India( not hockey).

But, what is disturbing is that our extreme enthusiasm for this game has taken its toll on other sports.Cricketers have become millionaires...nay, billionaires but another sportsman who excels in another game is reduced to penury because his game does not have the viewership.

The problem with our sporting scenario is the inequality of sports.Sportsmen's career are not protected satisfactorily....they should be made financially secure or else sportsman will no longer be talent driven but will become reward-focussed.I have seen players leaving certain form of sports because that game does not pay you even when you are at the top-level....and why not...your bread is more important than the laurels your talent may bring to the nation one day,which will be forgotten in no time.
India has to seriously think on this concept of 'Equality of sports',otherwise the country of one billion people will at best, continue to aim at only one gold medal in the next Olympics,too.