There is a school of thought, exploited for instance in George Orwell's 1984, which suggests that very often the corruption of ideas takes place without the knowledge of the parties whose ideas are being corrupted. Indeed, the process of corruption itself arises without intentional design but manages to envelop parties that are "close" to it. The only cure for this is prevention, and prevention comes through utmost skepticism.
Reading this:
Excerpt:
Sachin Tendulkar decides that IPL is more important than a tour of the West Indies.2011 is the year Sachin Tendulkar became just another cricketer.Mahendra Singh Dhoni leads India to an expected win in the first Test on the West Indies tour. Then he takes the mike in the post match press conference and delivers perhaps some of the the most arrogant and unsportsmanlike responses to questions by any Indian captain.Why men like Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Virendra Sehwag, and Zaheer Khan did not do more to come better prepared left me with a sense of betrayal. What value do these seniors bring to the team if they are unwilling to influence priorities and make a stand and instead simply be content to play the 'We are victims of the system' card.
and comparing it with the soft superficialities that Harsha Bhogle, supposedly India's premier writer on cricket, comes up with on cricinfo, it is clear which analysis is cutting closer to the bone; and who is really calling it as they see it. Bhogle blames lack of fitness for the Indian cricket team's record of 6 straight losses.
Let me be clear here. I haven't really been following cricket from about 2002/2003 until the World Cup victory last year. That's a big break, mostly because I grew tired of seeing the same meaningless one day internationals, while all I was looking for was Eden Gardens part II. I would notice off and on if something happened - such as the Sydney test in 2008 - but it wouldn't really register. I did notice however that India were actually winning some test matches, and I remember wishing I could care a bit more.
I suspect I will be returning soon to that looking at how India played in England and the rubbish they're doing in Australia. What angers - angers! - me is the denial shown - Ashwin going to press conference (since when did this start to happen anyway?) and saying no we didn't do anything wrong, the pitch is dead what to do. What is interesting is not what he said, but what he didn't say. He didn't say we were playing like we didn't care. He didn't say we were totally uninspired. He didn't say they were trying different things but it didn't work.
Look, Ashwin is only 24, and we've all done foolish things at 24. I don't understand why Captain Fantastic wasn't handling the press conference. You're captain, you're answerable damn it.
If cricket wants to be taken seriously, it better take itself seriously. Otherwise it'll all go down the T20 way, which god bless its soul, retains nothing of the beauty, drama and the aesthetic of Test cricket. American football, or just plain ol' football is by far the more preferred bang-bang kind of sport; cricket has no hope against this.
So when the richest administrative body in the world, with players who are treated like Gods, with money tumbling out of their pockets, cannot see to it that it ought to run its business professionally; that the big mad media machine refuses to see this as a major problem; that cricketers in India are above all blame, I am afraid cricket will not hold out for another 100 years. And all ye on cricinfo take note: if there's a lot that is *not* reported and there appears to be quite a bit of this, you are burying the sport that much deeper. Not that the guys doing commentary are any better - oy, if you hate t-20 so much, why bother watching and commenting on it?
Cricket is lucky that despite such losses and the ambivalence shown to them, we the paying emotionally invested Indian audience will keep watching. The lack of honesty will ultimately have massive harmful effects.
The real cause of trouble though is that this lack of honesty may be being committed in total innocence.
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