Cricket is an ON-FIELD game - Just a wake up call for the Fans

Cricket is an ON-FIELD game – Just a wake up call for the Fans: Cricket, since its inception in the international sphere in 1800s, has been referred to as ‘The Gentleman’s Game’ owing to the positive spirit and elegance with which the game is played by sustaining the respect among the players and their opposition. But due to the advent of weeds like sledging and other disputes, The Gentleness of the game was clouded quite a number of times in the past and also at present which is somewhat unpleasant for the game and also to the social mass, considering things in a deeper aspect.

Also, due to the evolution of social media into the game, the fans of the countries get to interact about the game and quite often, in high-voltage matches and tournaments, the battle on the field has been dragged off the field too by some over-passionate fans and that led to banters leading to turmoil.

To paint images of such instances, we can recall the incident when the crowd at the Eden Gardens went violent and put the stands to fire in the semi final of the World Cupin 1996, we remember the fans getting involved in a banter after the match between India and Pakistan in the 1999 World Cup, also, in 2001, at Headingley during the match between England and Pakistan, English skipper, Alex Stewart had to concede the match on safety grounds owing to the invasions on the pitch by the fans of both countries and the list goes on with a number of incidents.

In a nation like India, Cricket is something equivalent to religion and most of the countrymen are emotionally attached to the game but this leads to ill-effects quite a number of times. We have seen players’ houses being attacked after the team’s loss, players’ harassed by spreading rumours and excessive curiosity about their personal lives, legends of the game disrespected and many such reasons.

As cricket fans, did we ever wonder how players take the battle only on the field and completely leave the cricketing battles on the field and are friendly once out of the ground? We know how good friends are Sachin and Lara, Gayle and Pietersen and many others have been. But on the field, they just play for their countries and keep the battle on and carry no signs of them off the field. Maybe this is what is called professionalism! After all, Cricket is just a game and got to be enjoyed and should be understood in a sporting spirit.

Fans have to realize the fact that even cricketers are human beings. They must be praised during the victories and the fans have the right to put on their opinions in criticizing the players during the bad times but the criticism shall not get to personal level. This affects the spirit and it is definitely not something the players deserve. Recently, a newspaper of Bangladesh called ‘Prothom Alo’ came up with an ad that mocked the Indian players in a shrewd manner by portraying the half-bald pictures of players.

After India’s loss in the second ODI, the super Indian fan, Sudhir Gautam was attacked by a angry mob outside the ground. Even on the part of a few Indian fans, they didn’t chose to be quiet. They had their share of trolling by calling mean names to the Bangladesh team over the social media. The obvious question that comes up is, are such kinds of stuff expected from a ‘Cricket’ fan to say the least?

We could take examples from the players themselves. The Bangladeshi captain, Mashrafe Mortaza must have been overwhelmed by such success but he did possess his share of respect for the Indian players. Indian captain, MS Dhoni was also full of praises for the Bangladeshi unit. This is something the fans definitely need to quench from the players. Things often get worse from these small incidents and this might lead to the degradation of political relations between countries.

That is not what was meant to happen. Cricket, being part of a sport, shall be used to bridge the political gap and not elongate it. And sadly, things are getting meaner of late and quite often, we get to see huge banters off the field which spoil the friendly relations between countries and provinces.

Having said all that, one might shoot a question of the fact that players do sledge on the field. So what about that? Well, to be honest, that is also an on-field part of the game. Like for instance, we have seen how Wahab Riaz and Shane Watson got heated up during the World Cup quarter final in 2015 but after the match, both exchanged feelings of warmth via Twitter and apologized for their on-field sledges.

Teams do play to win and something happening on the ground should not definitely be dragged off it. This demeans the gentleness of the game. After all, it has got to be realised that Cricket is a game to be played between two TEAMS and not between countries or provinces or regions. That is how it stays as ‘The Gentleman’s Game’!