High hopes before reality bites : The Tribune India

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The Tribune at world cup: Rohit Mahajan in Sydney

High hopes before reality bites

 The Indians fans — or rather India’s supporters, because they were of all sorts of nationalities from across the globe — had set their sights high.



 The Indians fans — or rather India’s supporters, because they were of all sorts of nationalities from across the globe — had set their sights high. Unrealistically high. Thursday night, in the imaginations of the delirious fans, was supposed to be penultimate step before the pinnacle. They expected India to win. “Jeetega bhai jeetega, India jeetega,” they bellowed before and during the match.


1) An Indian fan wears a dejected look in Sydney
2) In Agartala angry fans burn the posters of Indian team. 
3) Bangladeshi fans cheered for Australia on Thursday
4) A day before Indian fans performed a yagna in Ahmedabad.
5) Australian fan Robert Waygood (right) with a friend.
6)  Indian fan carrying a poster of Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi. — Rohit Mahajan/Agencies

The expectation of the Indian win was not based on logic. A mathematically-inclined friend had come up with a statistical analysis of the two teams’ chances today. The analysis was based on tens of factors, ranging from the venue, nature of the track, players in the XI to recent record. The verdict — Australia had roughly a 65 percent chance of winning tonight, India had a 35 percent chance of getting through.

We met AL Jagannath, a director at a software firm based in Bangalore. He was bullish about India’s chances. “We’re going to win today, I’m quite certain,” he said. But he was working with incomplete data — he didn’t know India’s ODI record in Sydney, a pitiful 1 win against 12 losses. He didn’t know that India had won only 10 and lost 30 ODIs against Australia in Australia.

His belief in India was based on faith. His friend from the US, who’d flown from Seattle to Sydney in the morning, works with a big software company. He too was very optimistic about India’s chances. “We can and should win, because the wicket is going to help the spinners,” he said. “The Indian team should be inspired by India’s performance in the CB Series in 2008!”

Sandeep Joshi, also in the software industry here, said he was sure India would win. When he was told of India’s horrible record in Australia, he responded: “I’m supporting India because of my patriotism!” Joshi holds an Australian passport. He has lived in Australia for over 20 years. His heart beats for India as well as Australia, but the Indian side of the heart has made him confuse high hopes with high chances. Patriotism isn’t necessarily the best indicator of a team’s quality and chances.

Basis of support

Many neutral fans wanted India to win. Early this morning, a jogger at Bondi beach frowned because he feared that Australia beat India in the quarterfinal.

He’s British but now lives and works in Sydney, and he’s not very impressed by the aggressive nagging of the Australians when it comes to sporting achievement. The Australians, excellent in all other respects, a friendly and helpful people, are a little too bullish when it comes to sport, he said. “They’re a bit too full of themselves,” he said. “They’re crazy about sport, and they love it when they win... But it becomes a bit painful because they’re not gracious after winning — they boast and pull your leg, sometimes very aggressively.”

Before New Zealand and Australia had reached the final, we asked the New Zealanders we bumped into who they wanted to win the World Cup. Almost always, the answer was: “Any team other than Australia!” 

Mohammed Azim, a Pakistani-American who had hoped to see Pakistan win the World Cup, is supporting India. “We’re neighbours, and we’re same people,” said Azim. “After Pakistan went out, I could support only one team, India.”

“Australia don’t win gracefully,” said Rajiv Kumar, a Sydney based medical professional. “They way the team carries on in the field, and it’s very difficult to like them.”

These opinions represented the changing face of Australia, the changing face of the world. Nationality and patriotism aren’t a zero-sum game in mature societies — if a fan loves, say, Bangladesh, it doesn’t mean that he loves Australia any lesser for that. The same Australians who display extreme sporting jingoism, for the most part, accept this without any problems.

Englishmen were supporting India; American-Pakistanis were supporting India. Indian-Australians were supporting both India and Australia. Sri Lankan-Australians were backing Australia. And we met a bunch of Bangladeshi-Australians who were cheering for Australia due to a sense of pique. “We were originally going to support India,” said the man wearing the Bangladeshi shirt and waving the Australian flag. “But after the way India beat Bangladesh in the quarterfinal, mainly due to umpiring mistakes, we changed our support from India to Australia. Now we want Australia to win.”

Aussies not bothered

Does this overwhelming support for India bother Australians? Are they upset that Indians who’ve lived in this country and found success here support the “mother country”? The people we spoke with thought it was not a bad thing. “My father came from Australia decades ago, and he still supports New Zealand,” says Robert Waygood, who lives in Sydney. “I think it’s perfectly fine, and I think most people I know have no problem with it.”

We bumped into the father of Ed Cowan, and we asked his thoughts on this. “It is good for the game, there is so much passion for the sport,” he said.

Passion of fans doesn’t necessarily translate into excellence of the team . By the time the game ended, the fans had drawn and haggard look; they had vacant eyes and sore throats. But it’s possible that they’d learnt a lesson — beating Australia in Australia is among the toughest jobs in ODI cricket.

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