Nothing unites India like its cricket team

Julio Ribeiro

THE cricket World Cup ended on Sunday. After the G20 summit, it was the most happening event in India this year. Cricket is of great interest to all segments of our society. The G20 was of no interest to the illiterate and the deprived. Like the G20 event, the World Cup was well organised. Kudos to BCCI secretary Jay Shah and his team.

When New Zealand’s Mitchell mistimed a shot into Jadeja’s safe hands, there was a unified roar from the crowd which I, too, joined.

Prime Minister Modi presented the World Cup to Australia, which was the superior team that day. He would have been happier if the title had been won by the Indian team. Like all Indians, he would have been in the seventh heaven. He would have got a few more votes in 2024 because simple folk are wont to credit him with anything positive happening in the country.

The Australians played better in the final at the Ahmedabad stadium, which is named after Narendra Modi. Their fielding, in particular, was superb. Travis Head sprinted a good six or seven metres to take the catch that sent Rohit Sharma back to the pavilion. That dismissal had an impact on the ultimate result.

I felt our team was too hesitant after Virat Kohli’s departure. The players retreated into a self-made shell. Even Suryakumar Yadav, a T20 specialist batsman, failed to hit boundaries, even though a flurry of sixes to push up our total was called for so as to make the match competitive.

We had 10 straight victories under our belt when we entered the stadium for the final. That made the spectators and myriad other Indians complacent. In our minds, an aura of invincibility had enveloped our country’s cricket team. But actuarial science should have warned us that the mathematics of probability could work against us.

Pat Cummins, the Australian captain, had pooh-poohed his team’s earlier losses, one of them to India. A month ago, he told us his team was not yet at its peak, but it would be there as the tournament advanced. The day before the final, he said his team would like to experience a deafening silence in the Narendra Modi Stadium. That silence was experienced and noted by all of us.

Cricket is only a game; winning or losing is part of the game. That is a trite observation but true. Our Prime Minister’s countenance when handing over the World Cup trophy to Cummins was what a leader should be proud of! He did not show his disappointment, unlike lesser mortals. He visited the Indian team’s dressing room and hugged Mohammed Shami.

PM Modi was as excited about India’s victory in the semifinal as the policemen and their children who stay in the police camp behind my residence. The kids burst crackers as soon as the match ended around half an hour past the 10 pm cracker-bursting deadline fixed by the Bombay High Court.

PM Modi issued a statement which appeared in every newspaper the next morning. He congratulated the team, while mentioning Kohli and Shami. Our superb pace attack has another speedster, Mohammed Siraj, who represents, along with Jasprit Bumrah, an awesome trio. The spin duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav, the former from Modi’s state Gujarat and the other from the populous state of Uttar Pradesh, constitute our world-class spin attack. In the final, the Aussies initially fumbled against them, but steadied their nerves after the third wicket fell.

It is unfortunate that politicians in our ancient land sponsor divisiveness, even hate, to win elections. But the performance of our players, selected on pure merit, and who hail from different states, speak different languages, practise different faiths and do not demand slots in the team based on caste, is something that unites this country like nothing else does. Every Indian I know prays for an Indian victory.

An NGO in Mumbai striving for communal harmony and peace since the riots of 1992-93, the Mohalla Committee Movement Trust, had introduced the concept of ‘cricket for peace’. A moral rearmament worker named Sushobha Barve, a great proponent of unity between communities, especially between Hindus and Muslims, had come up with the idea of an inter-police station cricket soft-ball tournament with one policeman and 10 other players drawn from both major communities in each team. For the past three decades, the Cricket For Peace Tournament has been organised by the Trust every year with the active help and participation of the Mumbai city police.

It has brought the poorer Hindu and Muslim youth together on the platform of cricket. It has helped immensely to foster understanding and bonhomie between neighbours. After 1993, Mumbai has not recorded any incident of communal riots.

The members of the Indian cricket XI are fast friends. In the quest for winning the World Cup, they were one. When Shami took seven New Zealand wickets, his teammates mobbed him and thumped him in sheer joy. Every Indian worth his salt also exulted. In cricket, there is no sign of the Islamophobia that is eating into our entrails ever since the electorate is being goaded to vote 80:20 on religious lines.

Writing in an English-language newspaper, a commentator lamented that “the deadly silence in our stadiums whenever a batter hits a boundary against India is embarrassing.” I did not think this was in any way surprising. A ‘home’ crowd is a partisan crowd. If it feels that the game is being taken away from India, it will react with silence when the other side’s batter hits a six or a four. Sitting in front of the TV screen at home with my attendant for company, I was also shocked into silence when New Zealand’s Daryl Mitchell ran amok, hammering sixes and fours in the semifinal.

When Mitchell mistimed a shot into Jadeja’s safe hands, there was a unified roar from the crowd which I, too, joined. My roar, of course, was heard only by my attendant! When Mitchell walked back to the pavilion, the spectators in the entire Wankhede Stadium stood up and clapped. I clapped too. Along with the Mumbai crowd, I knew in my heart that though cricket is a game of uncertainties, success for our team was now certain. Only Mitchell stood between us and victory! With him gone, the Men in Blue would be heading to Ahmedabad. And they did.

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