The agony of being an Indian fan
R Dharmarajan
As a cricket fan the biggest thing i have earned is patience, annd like me many fans would have also acquired that quality. This patience is not just a word, but a trait aquired through supporting the team despite the team performing pathetically against Pakistan from match to match and more in listening to the same old excuses comming from the captain and the manager.
As an Indian fan we do not demand the prize money the players earn nor a share in the gate collections, we do not demand the sponsorship money provided by Pepsi, nor we demand the Swatch watch from Azhar, we do not want to share the benefits and purse provided to the Indian cricket team. Last but not the least we do not expect India to win every single match.
But what we expect is honest effort and tough fight till the death.We atleast want to be confident that the team cares for the country's reputation or for the people who spend their time and energy and mind you, many of us are not fortunate to have a live telecast and spend time on the internet to follow the matches. At times I do thank my self for not able to watch it live as that would be more unpleasant at times.
Looking at the team's and especially the captain's approach makes me wonder if he is really interested in playing cricket leave alone winning it. My intention is not to criticise the captain or to doubt the comittment of the team but the approach shown by the captain towards the country and fans. There is a big reason why the whole country wants Jadeja to be the captain, not because he is better than Azhar as a player nor has the better experience, it was just that the whole country watched the transformation in the teams approach and even when we lost a couple of games under him we were atleast content at seeing an honest effort put in by the team.
And that is what fans like me and the millions all over the world want to be content with, I hope we see that during the World Cup as one thing is so unique with the Indian fan -- we always believe that the team can do well despite the string of defeats and other factors. Let us hope the team does well, and doing well doesn't mean winning always. Best of luck to the Indian team and the other Indian fans for the World Cup 1999.
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