I wanted to write this blog for quite some time, India’s victory in fact comprehensive victory over Aussie, actually the Mighty Aussie (when you have defeated your opponent to make your victory bigger praise them) makes the timing of this blog perfect. This is not really about the Aus series, but something much more. I believe the changes in India’s cricket team are a reflection of the changes in India as a nation.
Let us see the events chronologically. Indian cricket really got noticed after the 1983 world cup victory, through out 70’s we were known for our spin bowling but never as a strong team. It was after the world cup victory and the tri-series win in Aus that we were started to be counted as a force to recon with. As a nation it was the changes initiated by the then PM- Rajiv Gandhi and Sam Pitroda that we are seeing the results today. They started the Computerisation era in a big way in India and we all know that today it is one of the fastest growing sector. If this example sounds really like a coincidence so here are many others:
In cricket: From Spin Kings to Pacers
As a nation: Not just an agriculture state
India was well recognised as a spin force, the pace bowlers were required to remove the shine from the ball. This trend stared to change with the emergence of Kapil Dev. Manoj Prabhakar was useful bowler who opened the bowling alongside Kapil and also started opening batting towards the end of his career. There were many pace bowlers who came and went in the 90’s. Some were one match wonders while others were injury plagued (Abey Kuruvila, Salil Ankola) On the other hand some left behind a mark- Javagal Srinath being the most noticeable. While all these new pacers were being born the spinners did not die out. Venkatpathy raju, rajesh Chauhan shined for a few years while there were longer term success like Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh.
India’s main employment generator was agriculture and large part of the nation was living in the rural India. But with sustained effort from the various Political leaders and Indians themselves, industrialisation started increasing. Much like Kapil in the 80’s, Industry was in the hand of the government and a few large families (Ambani, Tata, Godrej). Entrepreneurs started appearing much like the pace bowlers, some failed some succeeded. Today India is well known for its service sector companies like IT, BPO etc. While IT and modern companies grab much of the headlines, agriculture remains the largest contributor to the GDP.
India is not just in the cities
During the 90’s Indian cricket was concentrated in the large cities. There were many players from Bombay (now Mumbai), Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Hyderabad, Delhi and West Bengal. The same holds true for our nation as well. Most of the large business establishment and hence centres of employment were in the large cities. Smaller towns were less known. Things have changed really big time now. The present Indian Captain is from Jharkhand and there more players from smaller towns. This is a reflection of how the things are in our country as well.
In cricket: More than home tigers
As a nation: A growing Global force
In the mid 90’s India had a phenomenal test record in India. Pitches were like these dust bowls where the ball would turn like crazy after the third day. Many countries were beaten badly it all looked very familiar. The table would turn when India went on an away tour. The pitches would be green and bouncy and the players would perform a parade. Most of them got out by poking to the swinging ball, believe me their dismissal looked so similar. Towards the end of 90’s things started to change. It was so much of self realisation; Mohali stadium was newly built and was on the most non Indian pitch. It had nice bounce and swing. Manoj Prabhakar once got a broken nose playing against west indies in Mohali. India got batsmen like Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman to support Sachin on the away tours and they were able to stamp their authority with their technique. At around the same time India was also producing genuine pacers and all this combined with a new aggressive captain in Ganguly meant that we were drawing matches abroad and also winning at times.
India as nation was self contained. The Industry would mostly satisfy local need and most of the Industries were regulated by the government (Nationalised Banks, Government TV etc). There was a major crisis in early 90’s and the then PM-Late P.V. Narsimha Rao and FM- Dr. Manmohan Singh, opened the economy allowing foreign capital to flow in. They reduced regulatory controls. Many industries started doing better with the influx of foreign capital and know how. Automobile sector is a good example, initially we had the primier padmini, ambassador and then Maruti 800 came in the mid 80’s. 90’s saw an explosion of car companies and models. Things started looking better in the home front. India started getting recognized as a global force after the outsourcing boom. Education had always been a key to urban Indians and with an increasingly globalised world. India was a major force to recon with in the world. One would never call India as third world country. The ever increasing Indian population was now viewed as a large consumer market which was untapped by most of the large global corporations.
In cricket: We can sledge too
As a nation: MNC buy out
Aus was one of the best sledger’s in the cricket field. It was as if they had the licence to sledge. As a teenager I would feel so angry seeing them on TV. But Aus would always use sledging as a secondary weapon and their main weapon was their cricketing talent. All pacer bowlers give a mouthful to the batsmen. India bowler were mostly the other way, I remember Javagal Srinath once checking if Ricky Ponting was alright after a nasty bouncer. Ponting not used to such niceties, reacted thinking that Srinath was sledging and started abusing him in turn. Such was the Indian team they would hear everything and never respond. Early 2000’s saw a new Indian team emerging, backed by an aggressive captain, team members started saying things back to the sledgers. As of today mostly the Indian players react to on-field talk.
As a nation we saw many MNC come to India post liberalisation come to India and setup shops. Some succeeded, some failed they would many times buy out the local Indian players. Many saw this as this as a disturbing trend and they reminded the public of the british raj and east India company. As we know today these fears were unfounded and the Indian industry grew stringer with the MNC presence and large payers like TATA have started the reverse trend. TATA group has acquired big names in the automobiles industry much to the dismay of the locals. Only time will tell how the MNC buy out works.
In cricket: Who cares for technique T20 rules
As a nation: New streams of Education
India is the T20 champions of the world. Led by a fearless captain they triumphed in the first edition of the trophy. Batsmen in T20 are not expected to be technically perfect, all they need to do is to score runs. Contrast this with the earlier era when players had to be technically perfect, have good defence. Imagine Sunil Gavaskar and you will understand what I am talking about. Now think of Robin Uthapa and his batting style, nobody cares about his batting technique as long as he scores run. In between the test and T20 were the One day internationals which involved little bit of aggressive cricket and on some occasions proper technical play.
As a nation until the early 90’s the education system that had little variation. Study till 12th, complete graduation and search for a goverment job. Things started changing as private enterprise started growing in India. Now there were newer job openings in private sector. Education system was changing and more course that were practical and job oriented were now available. In the past decade many new courses have mushroomed to cater to the changing economy.
In cricket: Challenging the leader- Australia
As a nation: changing the world order- 123 agreement
Numerable websites are shouting that Australia will be dethroned as the #1 team in the world. South Africa and India are pitted in a battle to gain the top spot.
As a nation we saw that the US administration bend over its back to get the bill through the various global organisation (IAEA etc), this clearly establishes the changing position of India in the world.
To conclude,
Let us see the events chronologically. Indian cricket really got noticed after the 1983 world cup victory, through out 70’s we were known for our spin bowling but never as a strong team. It was after the world cup victory and the tri-series win in Aus that we were started to be counted as a force to recon with. As a nation it was the changes initiated by the then PM- Rajiv Gandhi and Sam Pitroda that we are seeing the results today. They started the Computerisation era in a big way in India and we all know that today it is one of the fastest growing sector. If this example sounds really like a coincidence so here are many others:
In cricket: From Spin Kings to Pacers
As a nation: Not just an agriculture state
India was well recognised as a spin force, the pace bowlers were required to remove the shine from the ball. This trend stared to change with the emergence of Kapil Dev. Manoj Prabhakar was useful bowler who opened the bowling alongside Kapil and also started opening batting towards the end of his career. There were many pace bowlers who came and went in the 90’s. Some were one match wonders while others were injury plagued (Abey Kuruvila, Salil Ankola) On the other hand some left behind a mark- Javagal Srinath being the most noticeable. While all these new pacers were being born the spinners did not die out. Venkatpathy raju, rajesh Chauhan shined for a few years while there were longer term success like Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh.
India’s main employment generator was agriculture and large part of the nation was living in the rural India. But with sustained effort from the various Political leaders and Indians themselves, industrialisation started increasing. Much like Kapil in the 80’s, Industry was in the hand of the government and a few large families (Ambani, Tata, Godrej). Entrepreneurs started appearing much like the pace bowlers, some failed some succeeded. Today India is well known for its service sector companies like IT, BPO etc. While IT and modern companies grab much of the headlines, agriculture remains the largest contributor to the GDP.
India is not just in the cities
During the 90’s Indian cricket was concentrated in the large cities. There were many players from Bombay (now Mumbai), Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Hyderabad, Delhi and West Bengal. The same holds true for our nation as well. Most of the large business establishment and hence centres of employment were in the large cities. Smaller towns were less known. Things have changed really big time now. The present Indian Captain is from Jharkhand and there more players from smaller towns. This is a reflection of how the things are in our country as well.
In cricket: More than home tigers
As a nation: A growing Global force
In the mid 90’s India had a phenomenal test record in India. Pitches were like these dust bowls where the ball would turn like crazy after the third day. Many countries were beaten badly it all looked very familiar. The table would turn when India went on an away tour. The pitches would be green and bouncy and the players would perform a parade. Most of them got out by poking to the swinging ball, believe me their dismissal looked so similar. Towards the end of 90’s things started to change. It was so much of self realisation; Mohali stadium was newly built and was on the most non Indian pitch. It had nice bounce and swing. Manoj Prabhakar once got a broken nose playing against west indies in Mohali. India got batsmen like Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman to support Sachin on the away tours and they were able to stamp their authority with their technique. At around the same time India was also producing genuine pacers and all this combined with a new aggressive captain in Ganguly meant that we were drawing matches abroad and also winning at times.
India as nation was self contained. The Industry would mostly satisfy local need and most of the Industries were regulated by the government (Nationalised Banks, Government TV etc). There was a major crisis in early 90’s and the then PM-Late P.V. Narsimha Rao and FM- Dr. Manmohan Singh, opened the economy allowing foreign capital to flow in. They reduced regulatory controls. Many industries started doing better with the influx of foreign capital and know how. Automobile sector is a good example, initially we had the primier padmini, ambassador and then Maruti 800 came in the mid 80’s. 90’s saw an explosion of car companies and models. Things started looking better in the home front. India started getting recognized as a global force after the outsourcing boom. Education had always been a key to urban Indians and with an increasingly globalised world. India was a major force to recon with in the world. One would never call India as third world country. The ever increasing Indian population was now viewed as a large consumer market which was untapped by most of the large global corporations.
In cricket: We can sledge too
As a nation: MNC buy out
Aus was one of the best sledger’s in the cricket field. It was as if they had the licence to sledge. As a teenager I would feel so angry seeing them on TV. But Aus would always use sledging as a secondary weapon and their main weapon was their cricketing talent. All pacer bowlers give a mouthful to the batsmen. India bowler were mostly the other way, I remember Javagal Srinath once checking if Ricky Ponting was alright after a nasty bouncer. Ponting not used to such niceties, reacted thinking that Srinath was sledging and started abusing him in turn. Such was the Indian team they would hear everything and never respond. Early 2000’s saw a new Indian team emerging, backed by an aggressive captain, team members started saying things back to the sledgers. As of today mostly the Indian players react to on-field talk.
As a nation we saw many MNC come to India post liberalisation come to India and setup shops. Some succeeded, some failed they would many times buy out the local Indian players. Many saw this as this as a disturbing trend and they reminded the public of the british raj and east India company. As we know today these fears were unfounded and the Indian industry grew stringer with the MNC presence and large payers like TATA have started the reverse trend. TATA group has acquired big names in the automobiles industry much to the dismay of the locals. Only time will tell how the MNC buy out works.
In cricket: Who cares for technique T20 rules
As a nation: New streams of Education
India is the T20 champions of the world. Led by a fearless captain they triumphed in the first edition of the trophy. Batsmen in T20 are not expected to be technically perfect, all they need to do is to score runs. Contrast this with the earlier era when players had to be technically perfect, have good defence. Imagine Sunil Gavaskar and you will understand what I am talking about. Now think of Robin Uthapa and his batting style, nobody cares about his batting technique as long as he scores run. In between the test and T20 were the One day internationals which involved little bit of aggressive cricket and on some occasions proper technical play.
As a nation until the early 90’s the education system that had little variation. Study till 12th, complete graduation and search for a goverment job. Things started changing as private enterprise started growing in India. Now there were newer job openings in private sector. Education system was changing and more course that were practical and job oriented were now available. In the past decade many new courses have mushroomed to cater to the changing economy.
In cricket: Challenging the leader- Australia
As a nation: changing the world order- 123 agreement
Numerable websites are shouting that Australia will be dethroned as the #1 team in the world. South Africa and India are pitted in a battle to gain the top spot.
As a nation we saw that the US administration bend over its back to get the bill through the various global organisation (IAEA etc), this clearly establishes the changing position of India in the world.
To conclude,
The last few weeks have been a tough time for India as a nation. Mumbai was under seige by the terrorist trained in Pakistan. Hats off to the personnel who helped in ending the seige. India is a diverse nation with people of many religons, regions, castes co existing. Last few decades have seen a sharpening of these differences and it is the same difference which the terrorist want to exploit. We should NOT let them succeed. As a nation we treat cricket as a religon. Can cricket be a uniting force which will help us overlook and live happily along with our differences?
As the Historic victory over England in Chennai sent waves of happiness across the country and sachin tendulkar dedicated the victory to Mumbaikars, can we hope that cricket which reflects our society in so many ways be the force which unites us as we march into the next century as world leader?
