Wasnt the Indian loss to England during the recent series over-hyped?
Ever since the Indian team landed on the English soil,the media hype started and already made it a must-watch series. Questions were being raised on all sorts of possibilties-'Will the 'GOD' of cricket, Sachin Tendulkar get to his 100th ton?, 'What will be the outcome of the 2000th test in history?', so on and so forth.
As the tournament kicked off at the home of cricket,'THE LORDS', the Indians looked completely 'strangers' to the game. As the test progressed, the Indian players began to be targeted by the media for their lacklustre performance. The Indians lost the much awaited 2000th test and with their 'No. 1' spot in danger,the media spread the news as if a natural disaster had struck in the heart of the nation.
The series progressed and India kept on losing. With the 3rd test defeat, the Indians humbly gave the No. 1 crown to Andrew Strauss & Co.. With the series whitewash staring at the faces of the Indian team before the 4th test,which was almost inevitable considering the perforamnces they showed, the media gave huge hopes of a strong Indian comeback. But that was not to be. The Indain team was destined to lose and lost pretty comfortably. Again, the media scrutiny started.
As almost the entire Indian team succumbed to injuries, the media here played a vital role in criticising the IPL, the fatigue factor, the replacements, the selectors, etc, etc..
At a time when the Indian Hockey team won the Asian Championships, when Saina Nehwal crashed out of the China Masters, when the Indian tennos team surrendered meekly to Japan in the Davis Cup, and when many more national events were in the fray, the media, especially the sports section of the media over-hyped the Indian loss.
It is indeed a high time that cricket be just regarded as any other sport in India. Agreed that huge amounts of money is behind this game and that it is considered as a religion in India, but it is particularly the extra hype which this game gets which makes it immensely popular. So everyone has a role in it,'WE' the readers and 'MEDIA', the publishers. Lets hope that this wonderful game of cricket stops getting this extra hype.
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