Multiplicity of an Indian Cricket Fan
The fate of an Indian fan is entwined with the fortunes of other teams. Invariably.
In tri-nation tournaments,we've seen this often becos we would win only one match and then hope that the most dominant team beats the second most dominant team by a huge margin and then we'll eventually go through to the finals thanks to Net Run-Rate or a washout or some stroke of luck, like a Virender Sehwag century.
It's allright in these small tourneys , I'm sure we can cheer for a third team to win or lose but right now we're on an ICC World Cup and we don't know if we'll qualify to be one of the best 8 ODI teams out a game that's played by 10 test playing nations to begin with.
For a start, if I'm a genuine Indian fan today, I'll cheer for Bangladesh. I cry hoarse for them to win it, run like tigers, take wickets, celebrate like chimps , take catches like dolphins and basically beat the sh*t out of Sri Lanka while I eat Hilsa ( I hate it but I'll do it) and sing the Bangla national anthem.
On Friday, I'll obviously cheer for India.
And today if Bangladesh doesn't beat SL, then on Friday I'll become a Bermudan. I'll shout on top of my voices for Leverock and company. I'll want them to beat the sh*t out of Bangladesh. I'll change my identity and scream "Hail Bermuda" with a passion equal to that of Mogambo's sidekick.
I'll do it but even in this age of globalisation, wouldn't transmogrifying 3 national identities, in a space of 4 days, have been quite an ask for Calvin too ?
In tri-nation tournaments,we've seen this often becos we would win only one match and then hope that the most dominant team beats the second most dominant team by a huge margin and then we'll eventually go through to the finals thanks to Net Run-Rate or a washout or some stroke of luck, like a Virender Sehwag century.
It's allright in these small tourneys , I'm sure we can cheer for a third team to win or lose but right now we're on an ICC World Cup and we don't know if we'll qualify to be one of the best 8 ODI teams out a game that's played by 10 test playing nations to begin with.
For a start, if I'm a genuine Indian fan today, I'll cheer for Bangladesh. I cry hoarse for them to win it, run like tigers, take wickets, celebrate like chimps , take catches like dolphins and basically beat the sh*t out of Sri Lanka while I eat Hilsa ( I hate it but I'll do it) and sing the Bangla national anthem.
On Friday, I'll obviously cheer for India.
And today if Bangladesh doesn't beat SL, then on Friday I'll become a Bermudan. I'll shout on top of my voices for Leverock and company. I'll want them to beat the sh*t out of Bangladesh. I'll change my identity and scream "Hail Bermuda" with a passion equal to that of Mogambo's sidekick.
I'll do it but even in this age of globalisation, wouldn't transmogrifying 3 national identities, in a space of 4 days, have been quite an ask for Calvin too ?
