[muni]

We know that we deify our indian cricket players when they hardly live upto our expectations.

Yesterday, watched that SMS waala episode where the senior journalist read out greg's pre world cup message and our media, cricketers( srikanth, waqar etc) trying desperate to sensationalise the issue.

It is painting a sorry picture of how mature we are as a nation.

The way the media is treating Greg chappel and dravid the last few days, I am wondering where are we heading to for the love of cricket.

First of all, Greg Chappel though has a very good cricketing brain does not show restraint in venting out his frustrations.

The senior cricketing journalist in a bid to defend Greg is making matters worse to himself and Greg.

One thing which i agree having followed Cricket all my life is Yuvraj does think that he is a big super star when all that he looks is like one of those pakistani rising cricketers who cannot handle success.

Things are quite simple we bowled and batted bad against bangladesh and thats where things have gone wrong.

We put sehwag on a pedestal when ha hadnt done much and we persisted with him for the last couple of years and we faltered.

Dravid is still the best captain we have and anything we do in this regard would be utter foolishness.

Tendulkar should gracefully retire as the pressure to live upto the country's expectation is getting the better of him. He shouldnt have killed his natural attacking instinct at all.

John Wright i feel was the best coach we have had and indian cricketers make for poor coaches. look at Srikanth, Kapildev, Siddhu and all that i see is emotional cricketers without a sense of balanced approach.


I like the Srilankans for what they are, i see a bunch of committed people whose feet are grounded. THe luring Ad money hasnt spoiled them yet.


We are wasting our hard earned money on these guys and its time we move on with other sports. Cricket doesnt intrerest me the way it used to few years back.

[theMAG]

The Indian media should have handled it like the British media in such a situation - acidic with no holds barred. They've been too mild abt this.

[amit]

Indian media and responsible? The Indian media specially the TV one are a bunch of jokers whose only aim is to sensationalise every issue. Indian news channels are the only news channels in the world that present their news in a very filmy manner, background music and the works. It's hilarious. Who needs comedy shows when we have 24X7 news. And I am always amazed at the sarcastic language they use, specially Aaj Tak. Yesterday some news channel was presenting the news of Ash-Abhi wedding with Shennai playing in the background!

About the world cup, the way we are discussing our debacle, a American may actually end up thinking that only one person plays cricket and he is solely responsible for our defeat. Greg Chappell is the unfortunate scapegoat in this situation. Cricket is a team game and it's high time we blamed the actual playing eleven instead. I would love to be a Indain cricketer today. If we win then it's dada's magic (88 runs in almost 120 ***** against BERMUDA) or it's our comeback kid Sehwag ( a century against BERMUDA) and so on. If we lose the coach is responsbile! I wonder why we never utter the word Greg Chappell when we win. If we blame him solely for our losses then logically shouldn't we thank him for making us win when we do? And what about the BCCI and the officials? What the hell is Sharad Pawar or any other politician doing in the BCCI? Have they ever played cricket? Do they know the spelling of cricket? Shouldn't they be asked to go alongwith Chappell, Dravid and others too? Ironically these politicians give out statements like heads will roll for our performance and so on. Are they above all responsiblity?

The SMS episode is another attempt at maligning Chappell. The SMS was sent by the coach in response to an article by Rajan Bala. And why are the board members and former cricketers angry with Chappell for leaking the secret board meeting discussions to the media. Firstly, Chappel didn't send the sms to the media. He sent it to Rajan Bala and he leaked that SMS to the media. And secondly, why the secrecy in team selection. Whats there to hide? Why can't the board meeting be transparent? The first line of the SMS says "Excellent article" which clearly shows that Chappell was responding to an article by Bala. BUT, the media is making it seem like the coach sent that SMS to the media trying to shift responsiblity for the loss on the senior players. I think it was ZEE that presented this news as "Chappell ki nayi chaal." What the bloody hell is wrong with us? I think Chappell will be only to happy to be relieved of his duties as a coach. And I'd love to see Sandeep Patil or any other "Indian stalwart' take over. Lets see what magic they weave with these bunch of models cum part time cricketers. TImes Now was among the best this morning. They had Sir Richard Hadlee who was very measured and objective in his responses. He said in NZ the coach has full authority to choose this team and hence can be held responsible for the defeats. In India, the coach has barely any say in team selection. If you don't give the coach the team he wants then it's not fair to blame him for the defeats too.

Why do we lose all objectivity in issues. There is always a lot of brouhaha and noise about what will be done and ultimately nothing happens. The media is already speculating and quoting there sources that Yuvraj will be made the captain. Cricket is a team game. We lost because the team failed to play well. Why don't we realise that? No one person wins the game and no one person loses it. But then our whole society and culture is extremely personality driven and I guess thats the problem.

[DriverR]

The media is a necessary evil. They have their positives, when they highlight and keep alive social/judicial issues that would have otherwise been swept off and forgotten by the people in power. But the downside is that they cannot but help do all they can to get high viewership rating. And in the quest for that, they can take things too far. From 'Breaking News', to point blank interviewing styles that sometimes ends up putting words into the interviewee's mouth, they compete with each other to be the first to get news that would make people stay glued to their channel/paper.
This is not always the best way of operating as it can kind-of create a negative impression.
I for one, am tired of the tirade of the continuing images of the result and outcome of the Indian defeat. Come on, there are other news in the world and India!!! The more they concentrate on the Indian defeat, the more importance and life they give to the sport and the issue! And that is the true power of the press which they have to use judiciously.
I'm yet to find a news channel that is balanced in its reporting. Infact, if I may say, I like the news pattern of DD News. Govt mouthpeice or not, they normally do not report things just in order to get viewership. But then, if I really wanted 'Breaking News', I would check out the private channels!

[Steeroid]

Lets not forget that the Media portrays things as PEOPLE want them to be portrayed - else they would be out of business.

The way our media behaves is a mirror to how our society is, therefore there is no point in blaming the media - there are enough people to lap up the stuff they dish out.

It is WE as a people who need to change - the media will automatically reflect this change.

[satish_appasani]

Amit, you said exactly what i have been feeling. In India, Cricket is a huge organization rather than a board or a club. The management has other interests too rather than winning matches, finding hidden talent and taking organized cricket to gulli level.

It's just foolish to blame couple of individuals or the playing team. If the team failed, shouldn't the selection comitee be banned for selecting that team?

[muni]

I feel that we are partly responsible but the media in a bid to outsmart the other channel with high viewership ratings is resorting to cheap publicity.

The scores of indian news channels is only making matters worse.

There should be few channels which portray things with a more neutral and mature perspective.

Agreed that the average consumer wants more sensational news. But arent the media guys supposed to handle it better with a more objective manner and arent they trained to do so.

And one thing i dont get is why get the pakistanis into the picture and ask their expert opinions when we all know that they are not so good with the words and analysis part.

Imran may be an exception but am sure he likes the publicity he gets.

[esteem_lover]

Do they know the spelling of cricket?

The great ex-ICC president could only say kirket. LOL

It is WE as a people who need to change - the media will automatically reflect this change.

Absolutely.

[typeOnegative]

Muni, Amit. You have articulated my thoughts very well. Thanks. No seriously. 100% behind you guys, but nothing will change things here.

Steer, it is a chicken and egg problem. Society can be changed by the media, but no one wants to take that step.

[bikefreak]

All I can mention are the words of a religious prophet who said . .
"Let the person who has never sinned cast the first stone !!"

Similarly, only a PERFECT person has a right to criticize someone elses performance !
We should remember that we still have a reasonably strong team that has proved itself on numerous occasions.
But then, to err is human

[typeOnegative]

Originally Posted by bikefreak

We should remember that we still have a reasonably strong team that has proved itself on numerous occasions.

Aha! Reasonably strong team that proves itself. Against whom and when? Not against whom it matters and not when it matters.

[esteem_lover]

Lets accept there are some very serious flaws in the system here & the media is just not helping by sensationalising every small bit.

[werfish]

The Media is hell bent on creating panic in the country..They just want to see Sachin as captain now.. .
Wish there was some way we could do a Tehelka on the TV Channels showing the hate they propagate in the country.

[Aditya]

The media is doing what they should - writing / creating sensation.
If our players did what they should do i.e. play to win, there would be no debacle.

[adya33]

I agree with members who say that media is not to be blamed.

Sachin played in '96 world cup and he is now again playing in 2007 WC so we can safely assume that he is at least 11 years old.

So when media portrays these players to be larger than life, Indian version of superman why don't these senior players step up and say "Look its just a game, today we have won and we appreciate your support but lets not go overboard. Instead do support and love us the same way when we go through bad patch."

Fact is these players like to be portrayed as hero's and then why do they expect people to think cricket as "just a game" when they start loosing badly? Is it fair?

And I honestly believe that Indian fans/media are not angry with Indian team for loosing but they are angry with the way they lost.