Who can forget Yuvraj Singh
crying after the World Cup win of 2011. It still gives goose bumps thinking
about that campaign.
The seething anger at Yuvraj Singh
over India’s surrender at the finale of the cricket World T20 shows a lot about
the state of mind of the current Indian. To put it in a harsh way, it shows a lot about
‘what is wrong’ with the state of mind of the current Indian citizen. The stress
of elections 2014 and the hope of better governance is taking its toll on the
average Indian. Let us look at cricket first and then move on to Indian psyche.
The rise of Sachin Tendulkar
coincided with India climbing up the global success ladder giving it confidence
to be world-beaters. The era of the Gangulys, Dravids, Laxmans came to an end
with the meteoric rise of current India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and
present heart throb Virat Kohli and in-between we had Yuvraj Singh and Virendra
Sehwag. The contribution of out-of-favour Virendra Sehwag has been exemplary
but it does not match the heroics of a Yuvraj Singh. Yuvraj has been the
darling of the masses starting from his exploits in India’s win in the under-19
World cup followed by a dream debut against Australia in 2000 in Kenya
consolidating it at the Natwest series in England in 2002, catapulting himself with
six-sixes in an over in World T20 in 2007 (which India won) and the ultimate pinnacle
of World Cup 2011. It would not be exaggeration to say that the kind of
influence he has had over India’s success is unmatched. Don’t compare his
individual records with others because individual performances matter less in a
team game.
Yuvraj’s personal fight with to
overcome cancer and his subsequent return to International cricket is nothing
short of a miracle. He has not been the Yuvraj of yore though. We can draw
parallels to the state of economy that India finds itself here in 2014. India also
was a darling of the International investors not too long ago and the eminent
rises of the Indian economy never ceases to the hopefuls. We have flatter to
deceive more often than not. As the world comes out of a trough after the highs
between 2002 & 2007, India does not seem to find favour with those who form
the bulwark to get the world economy back on track. Yuvraj and India seems to
follow a similar path. Just like Yuvraj who finds favour with the captain and
selectors based on past performance and talent, India too finds favour among
the international community on basis of past performance (namely the importance
of BRIC) but this does not translate into on-field performance.
The suppressed energies of India’s
youth due to an overall letdown of the incumbent government over the last
decade find its outlet with the seething anger at Yuvraj. Cricket has always
been passionately followed in India but the expectations surrounding the grand
entry of India into the World Cup final turned into a damp squib. Yuvraj found
himself at the centre of attention when he unintentionally turned out to the
anti-hero with his hapless performance. But the Indian fan who had sky high expectations
could not bear the loss. A team failure was attributed to one person who bore
the brunt of freedom-of-speech on social media. It doesn’t augur well for the
incumbent government considering the kind of restlessness among the citizens. Sports
and movies are an escape route for the citizens of a country who are under
stress of under-performance and lack of satisfaction in daily life. When this
escape route meets a dead end, it is bound to create repercussions. And the
seething anger at a failure in sports is one such repercussion.
