Oh, the great Indian culture!

It is still sinking in! What happened in the world cup was a travesty of sport. There is no way that one team could be called a loser. Yet, life, like sport is like that. Not fair and Just. Sometimes even cruel. Well, I will have to stop blabbering at some point and so I stop here.

I suddenly had this random thought on what would have happened had India played in the final instead of New Zealand. We should have played anyways. But, that is for another day of rambling. What if the great MSD was run out instead of Guptill in the last ball of the super over and the English were declared winners over India on the basis of more boundaries scored? How would we have reacted? 

I'm sure the ICC would have been lampooned. Effigies of English players burnt. Everyone including the umpires would have been called cheats. Some random buildings would have been broken. Few people of the Caucasoid race would have been beaten up. The ICC would have been made to apologize publicly. Social media would have used every available bad word to mouth every random individual remotely linked to the ICC or English cricket. For sure we would have declared ourselves victors. 

Alright, let us imagine another counterfactual. What if the match had happened in Wankhede, Mumbai? What would have happened to the players and the umpires? Will the stadium be left back in the same condition as it was before the match started? I won't be surprised if the stadium was set on fire as happened on the lines of the 96' semifinals and stones thrown. 

Compare it to the way Kane and his followers behaved after the defeat yesterday. Cultured is the word used to describe them. They were hurt too; But then they were so graceful, that the travesty of the result almost seemed an afterthought. 

Every time when we use the word culture to a nation-state, it should reflect the way the people of that country behave. So when we use the word 'Indian culture', it actually should denote our behaviour. The tragedies of life show one's true behaviour and hence the behaviour of the people during tragic times will show the true culture of the country. 

In that sense, we are far from being the 'Great Indian culture' we call ourselves to be! Far from it. 

Sport - Cruel sport!

What a game of cricket! And in the end, the best team won, or did it? Was England the better team on the day of the final? On paper yes! But surely not at the end of the day. Surely not!

Cricket is a simple sport. One team hits 'X' number of runs and the other team has to score 'X+1' number of runs within the stipulated number of overs. There are different modes of scoring a run. You can run. You can hit a ball hard enough so that it reaches the boundary and you can hit the ball long enough it goes over the boundary. Simple, right?

So what if the second team also scores the same 'X' number of runs scored by the first team? Just share the trophy! It is a tie. Is it that complex? Well, I agree we need a winner! Okay, then let them play one over each. Like overtime in football and basketball. So what if it keeps happening again and again and again. I mean the super overs keep getting tied again and again. Then stop the game and share the trophy. Football does it all the time. So does hockey.

Suddenly ICC and cricket management decides that if the super over gets tied, the number of boundaries is counted and the winner is decided on the team which has scored more boundaries. So what if I run four runs, will that be counted as a boundary? MS Dhoni the greatest finisher in the world, has won matches single-handedly just by running ones and twos. I remember a match which he scored a fifty without hitting a boundary. How is that a lesser inning than a somebody who has scored the same number of runs by scoring seven boundaries?

What if Federer and Djokovic were playing the final set 12-12. So, shall we stop the game and decide the winner on the number of Aces made by one of them?

Sport in itself cruel. The amount of pressure and the pain the body of the players take is huge. Let not stupid rules play spoilsport. If at the end of the day both the players or teams are considered equal on the basis of the basic rules of the game, just share the trophy. There is nothing wrong in saying both of them were equally good.

Why should we always have one winner?