Nerve Endings Firing Away

What is it about Sachin dismissals that keeps the rants coming in? Granted that he has been failing for a long time now and his dismal form continues even though his other lesser regarded colleagues keep on scoring. The most recent is the hullabaloo about the Wankhade crowd booing its favorite son. Theory is, if he is booed in Mumbai, Sachin’s innings are over and it is time to depart. So the unthinkable happened yesterday as India was fighting hard to stave off a follow-on. As Sambit Bal says in his Cricinfo column:

“; when Tendulkar was about halfway to the dressing-room, the booing started, most noticeably and vociferously from the Garware Pavillion, which is just above the dressing-room, and which is populated exclusively by the invitees of the Mumbai Cricket Association. And soon it spread to the other parts of the ground.”

Sambit calls it “disgraceful and sickening”. But I simply call it a natural crowd reaction. At an individual level, no one will confess or admit to booing Tendulkar no matter how much you hate him and his millions. So who was it booing yesterday? It was the same crowd that flops cinema masterpieces, sinks literary classics, or comments profusely on inane posts. The crowd has come to appreciate quick entertainment and is around to watch crazy Afridi-type innings consists of sixes and fours. Appreciation of fine cricket is lost and the age of test cricket in itself may be past its prime. Ubiquity of choices and quick infotainment has made the public impatient and if you are fail to give them that repeatedly they are going to forget the countless moments of joy that you had provided them earlier with. Oh no! that was yesterday, I want you to entertain me now; if you can’t do that, too bad, let me welcome the next gladiator. Sachin may have himself to blame. He chose to carry the burden of millions when his other team mates simply took a free ride. Traversing continents, staying fit, and playing competitive cricket for more than 16 years can take its toll even in the form of a niggling and chronic tennis elbow. Admittedly with the burden of millions, he literally earned millions too; so why worry now. You can rest on your laurels (and millions). He saw Ganguly’s — his counterpart and former opening partner — fate at close quarters. He even chose to give him a second lease of life until the hate and distrust for Ganguly simply consumed the former captain.

Let’s get one thing straight here. This is India. We don’t have many heroes but we don’t have much patience for the ones that we have. I will be always saddened that we couldn’t win the World Cup in spite of having the ‘world’s greatest cricketer’ (and we got 4 shots at that so far) and I don’t think the next time will be any different. Gavaskar may have sworn to personally wring your neck if you didn’t get 50 test centuries but let us hope he cannot make good on his threat. So, Sachin, for the sake of your great legacy and undoubtedly fulsome talent, hang up your boots. We are ready to boo the next hero.

Update: GreatBong has a similar post although he makes an argument that all most of Indian cricketing audiences seem to have slid down in terms of their cricketing knowledge. Gaurav was in the stand and thinks the booing incident was exaggerated by the media.