Open Letter To Indian Cricket Team- From A Disgruntled Fan!

Dear team,

Yes, I am angry.

I invested days in watching you play a sport. I put aside servicing my car, I asked my son to keep quiet so that I could hear the commentary about available options to our captain for winning the game. I asked my mother and wife to cook nice food so I could celebrate your success while munching on homemade goodies. And with your recent performance, I was sure that it was inevitable. We were going to be champions. I had imagined it already. I had all the memes and messages ready to be shared over social networking sites. I bought additional firecrackers to burst when the final wicket would fall.

All this went to dust. I feel empty. I feel cheated of my happiness. I don’t have anyone to blame, nor I could have done anything to avoid the defeat, yet it feels personal.

Sports are fun. When the team was winning, everyone had a theory. It’s the home advantage, oh they are playing on a used pitch, the due factor was in favor of India. And when they lost, it was the team’s fault.

If I had prepared so much to celebrate the final, I could only imagine, the preparation that went in for the entire team. Countless hours of training, countless sessions, planning, ensuring keeping the team’s morale high, so much work that went in which we can’t possibly even imagine. If we are feeling cheated, spare a thought for the pain of those players who might be playing their last World Cup. If I feel angry to have put my personal work aside or asked my son to be quiet, these gentlemen were away from their families for months.

Yet we think we reserve the right to be most offended by a single defeat.

Over the course of 3 years, our coach Mr. Rahul Dravid, and captain Rohit, kept on talking about preparation for the World Cup. They talked about a perfect combination of bowling and batting. They talked about a fearless opening pair and an accurate seaming attack. Our beloved Kohli came in the form at the right time. Iyer, KL supported in the middle order. Kuldeep, Jadu were spinning their webs. They did deliver on those promises. You were not supposed to fail. You were perfect so far and we expected nothing less. We expected one last hurrah before carving this moment in our memories, just like we did in 2011.

Yet on one day, these super-humans faltered and unfortunately, it was the day that mattered the most.

We prayed to you as if you were our gods and we expected nothing but a deliverance in return. In the end, we got to know that you too are just humans.

Unfortunately, this is the only sport I watch, though I understand most other sports, I don’t think the Indian football team, or any other Indian team deserves my time as much as you do. So when you lose, I feel pathetic, pathetic to the point that I fight anyone who makes fun of me for supporting you.

There, the problem lies. We only support one game. Our authoritative love for the game could have created additional pressure on the biggest stage of the world. Hey, they are supposed to handle that pressure but let’s remember again, that they too are just humans.

If we support more games, we will see more World Cup events or Olympic events and we as fans will understand that losing is also a possible outcome in every sport including cricket.

So, let’s give our focus, time, and love for all the sports India plays and let cricket breathe a bit.

Yes, I was angry, but some sense prevailed as few hours had passed since the defeat. I think this event would still be a historic event.

I think India’s underdog story ends here. From here on Indian cricket would never be the same.

If you think about it, the Indian cricket team of 2000, though we had many legendary cricketers, we were always the underdog. There was always drama when Indians played. We were always winning to prove a point. I think now, India will turn a new leaf. They will play like they played in the World Cup (sans the final) – we are here to dominate and destroy.

And we are with you.

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