There are times in life when disbelief takes the better of all the other emotions. There are times when acceptance can be next to impossible. What do we do then? We weep, we sulk but finally we move on. Moving on from India’s defeat in Sydney after their loss to Australia can be rather painful, I know that. We are a cricket mad nation. When Virat Kohli top edged that Mitchell Johnson bouncer high up into the air all the Indian fans wished if the ball could vanish into the darkness and vastness of the night sky. Instead it went straight into the big welcoming gloves of Brad Haddin. There were tears in the stands and like the way Sachin’s top edge in the 2003 final virtually meant that India had lost the cup, it felt no different this time.
“It is only a top edge!” This is how Brett Lee had remarked when he saw the fans crying after Kohli fell. Lee wouldn’t know our passion,our love for the game.
We are all emotional beings I understand but does that give us the right to break windows and pelt stones at the most successful captain of India? Does that give Arnab Goswami the right to judge on national television to call India’s loss a ‘surrender without a fight’, a ‘disgrace’? Does the disappointment of a semi final loss give us the right to blame Anushka Sharma who like thousands of other people came to the stadium to watch the match? Emotions can take the better of us but it is totally unacceptable for anyone to vandalise and react the way we Indian fans do. I also agree that the ones who react this way are not a majority.
But as they say a man is known by the company he keeps; the company of these irrational overly reactive fans damage not only the reputation of the fans but the country as a whole. This minority is in fact very powerful and includes ‘reputed’ journalists who have taken it upon themselves to decide what the country wants to know every day. It includes panellists and former cricketers who question the commitment of the man who has not seen the face of his newborn as yet. This minority includes men who dare to celebrate when India win but not to take defeat in their stride when they lose.
This minority is a disgrace to this country and their reactions every time India loses, “disbelief” really takes the better of all the other emotions.
By Ashirbad Hazarika
