An Eternal Optimist

This is a story about a friend who believes that the Indian cricket team can do no wrong…if the team bats miserably – the pitch was bad, how could they help it, the bowlers will surely do a good job and win the match for us …oops they got hit all over the place – poor guys, some of them were suffering from injuries but still played, fielding is bad – they try but somehow cannot seem to see the ball due to bad lighting… when he cannot convince himself longer, he also puts the blame on Dawood Ibrahim and his devious methods of earning a quick buck through cricket!!! This is a cycle that goes on and on, but my friend doesn’t lose faith and still believes that Indian cricket team is the best…

And best it is…I mean who can refute the fact that its one of the best batting line ups on paper, it is another matter that this famed line-up chokes on most of the crucial games …Bowling is an area that India has always been weak in, but when we get a decent fast bowler, in the hope of creating a Kapil Dev, we ensure that he forgets how to bowl too…then there are this list of fast bowlers, medium pacers, spinners that I cannot seem to remember because they keep flitting in and out of the team…some of them we remember more for their in-field behavior as compared to their performance…but then whatever catches attention right? My friend tells me it is because we want to develop the second line of talent that we never seem to have a permanent team, a permanent opening pair I guess is too much to ask for… how does it matter if we lose a million matches in the name of developing talent! Fielding is something I don’t even want to start with.. I think Indian fielding has been a subject of a million jokes and was even a successful ad campaign for a washing powder brand, need I say more….but despite all this, this eternally optimistic friend of mine bought a subscription to watch the match online, went to office to watch the match with a LAN connection on a big screen, hooting for India to win…. Just to come back moping yet again!! But like I said the cycle repeats over and over again, so this friend is disappointed that the wireless connection does not work at the airport, is secretly thrilled that the flight is delayed and there is trouble with our tickets just so that he could stay a little longer at the airport and call home in India to check on the scores of the match between India and Pakistan in the 20-20 world cup… I am hoping for his sake and the sake of a million others like him that India at least keep this record of beating Pakistan in the world cup matches… It’s the Indian team – you never know… they love breaking these type of records!!

I guess it’s just too much to ask a team of 12 players to carry the hope and expectations of a billion people… I guess it’s too much to ask of them to perform well…at least to make us feel that they tried their best… but then again I guess its not too much considering all the money they make out of the sponsorship that they get – all thanks to the expectations of the very same billion people…

Today the captain of the Indian team has resigned, we are a team without both a captain and a coach…My friend says, things cannot get worse than this…we have to go upwards at least now.. I thought we already hit rock bottom when we lost to Bangladesh and Srilanka, didn’t make it to the Super eight and the team winning against Bangladesh in Bangladesh was making news!… Oh but then I forget my friend is an eternally optimistic Indian cricket fan…

PS: we reached Skelleftea and got to know that India finally managed to win the tie breaker...never mind that after reducing Pakistan for 59/5 in the 11th over there should not have been left a scope for a tie breaker in the first place…the good news my friend tells me is that they managed to keep this one record intact – at least for now…..