When it rains, it pours…even in cricket! By Suneetha.B, Trivandrum, India
I sat through the nail biting final of the Indo-Pak cricket game like any Indian and enjoyed its heart-stopping moments, and was elevated to the seventh heaven…(or cloud seven, like Sidhu mixed up his metaphors on a later analysis) when India won a thriller. But frankly speaking I was not too thrilled at what happened later.
The Cricket Control Maharaja Sharad Pawar who was present so grossly obviously on the TV screens at Johannesburg immediately announced a purse of 2 million dollars for the team and a one crore (this is rupees I gather) for the Yuvaraja that hit sixes. Then came the turn of the local governments, each one took care of its son by announcing awards of several lakhs. I think the least was for Sreesanth, since the Kerala government doesn’t have too much in its coffers even to pay its employees.
Isn’t this deplorable?
In a country where the media doesn’t even find it amusing to report hunger deaths or deaths due to lack of medical facilities, what is the need of all this prize money for just one particular brand of sports? We won at Football and Hockey too recently, this euphoria seemed absent then. And I am not sure there were any awards announced.
The cricketers are the best paid people in the field anyway, The Category A people get an annual purse of 60 Lakhs and the introductory category D gets 15 Lakhs per annum. That is a cool one Lakh plus per month after all expenses. And the way they make money from advertisements add to the bank, is this gross overplay necessary? I don’t think even the Kargil martyrs received a matching compensation.
The reception at Mumbai was out of this world, and I don’t grudge them that! In any case, the cricketers were literally in the back row on stage, revealing the politics of cricket.
It was wonderful the way they won and I love the boys for their brave hearts…but wearing the Indian cap and getting huge pays should be enough. I wish there was a way to stop this misuse of the exchequer. Would a PIL help? Anybody with a different voice out there?
It was wonderful the way they won and I love the boys for their brave hearts…but wearing the Indian cap and getting huge pays should be enough. I wish there was a way to stop this misuse of the exchequer. Would a PIL help? Anybody with a different voice out there?
Hey Suneetha,
That was a nice write-up! I agree with you when you said cricket is hyped too much. Most of us are cricket freaks, even I am! But we often fail to give any weightage to the other games. Hockey is our national game, but the status that it enjoys in our country is known to all. This time I watched the final of Asia Cup. It was as exciting as cricket! The problem is that it is still untouched by the ‘overplay’. It's really sad!
A wonderful blog!
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agree with u dear, and just see how we all forget all other sports. its so sad. we must praise other players too,like hocky and football players.
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Yeah, as if they didn't earn enough already... I wrote about it at my sulekha blog page. How should the glory of the victory be weighed always against money, money and more money?
The heroes welcome delayed my daughter's school bus by one and a half hours, and killed 100 saplings. Remember how they broke Dhoni's under-construction home after the world cup? Our public is becoming too excitable.
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Well said, Suneetha. This is a timely comment on our atitudinal imbalance towards sports in the country. While cricket has brought glory to the country off and on, football and hockey could also have done the same repeatedly if they had such patrons as cricket. The draw of the purse string for cricket has become the noose for other sports.
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Hi, Suneetha,
Well written. I too wonder how this particular game has come to be so popular in our country. Let me tell you that on that day when India took on Pakistan, there were literally no one in my office. Everyone ran home to see this game!!!!!!!!
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LOL
I hope they got their reply in Kochi. My house help's neighbours, 21 young men, spent an anount of 150Rs on tickets and 300Rs. to travel from Trivandrum to Kochi and back just to watch the Oct 2 ODI match. It's at least a 3 days' income for them...I wonder how they decide priorities?
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Cricket fever is nothing but the 'gora' hangover we have from the British rule.
Often some Tv channel or newspaper will feature the plight of previous Asian games or other winners literally starving, but neither the media company nor a corporate sponsor comes forward.
Yes, I think a PIL is long overdue, to prevent these transitory heroes from raking in the govt. (people's) moolah by way of grants, prize moneys,free plots, interest free loans, and whatever.
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