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It is very difficult to be an Indian cricketer. Well, it is very easy in some ways and very difficult in others. As an Indian cricketer, it is easy to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars playing for two months in the IPL. A three hour work day, two month season and several days off for playing the least physically rigorous form of cricket out there and you will earn enough money to certainly never go poor, barring massive financial imprudence – but I think we can all agree that financial prudence is not going to be the topic of this article.
Being an Indian cricketer is difficult, in other ways, especially if one is ambitious about forging a long, successful international career. The international series’ are endless and amongst the fatigue and mental burnout, it becomes very difficult not to be hated by the reactionary Indian fan-base, of whom I am a card carrying member.
The demands of the Indian fans of a player are endless and it would require a mythical creature of pure excellence to satisfy the local national fan-base – so here is my portrayal of such a cricketer – Raj – the king of Indian cricket.
Raj is an all-rounder. Of course, Indian fans demand an all-rounder to emulate the great Kapil Dev of years gone by. Nothing makes, not only an Indian fan, but a fan of partisan cricket in general more pleased than witnessing a cricketer of nostalgic value – one who can bring back golden memories of a golden cricketer from a golden age. What better playing style to emulate than the one of Kapil Dev, the leader of the 1983 World Cup winning squad? Indeed, India may have won the last World Cup, mere months ago, but it is agreed that cricket these days is trivial, pumped full of money and emptied of all substance amongst the money, endless technique analysis and various scientific machines and backroom staff who assist with such.
But I digress, Raj is an all-rounder. Just as nothing fills a fan with more joy than nostalgia to a golden age, nothing can break a fanatic fan out of a whimsical frenzy of hero-worship toward a cricketer than witnessing him at his weaker discipline(s). Surely no Indian fan could claim to maintain the excitement generated by the great Sachin Tendulkar as they watched England pinch quick single after quick single to him at mid-off, exploiting his aged body. Indeed, Raj cannot miss an international match, as he will be accused of prioritising the money of the IPL over his nation but his body certainly cannot age, yet the awe of a crowd witnessing perfection risk being broken ten years into a long career by poor fielding and perhaps a drop in form toward the end of a physically gruelling tour.
Raj is an all-rounder of untold commitment and an ageless body but a cult of personality is certainly not formed solely upon a player’s ability, the personality is also important. Here is where difficulties that even this writer’s sardonic tone cannot disregard, arise. Sachin Tendulkar became a hero through an understated demeanour. He was seldom aggressive and mostly calm in the face of pressure. However, fans in the modern era accept such modest behaviour only from an established great. In the early years of Raj’s career, he will be plagued will allegations of nonchalance, for ‘the man cares not for international cricket, he cares barely for cricket, merely for money’ – they will cry, devoid of all evidence. ‘Indians have been timid for too long, we must be bullied no more’, says the fan, with passing reference to the Ian Bell run out debacle of the recent England Test series. However, step over the line, and Raj will not receive fanfare, he will receive derision, ‘Indians are gentlemen, we must not stoop to the levels of the English/Australians’.
Raj must also bowl at 145kph, to fill a niche in the market of Indian cricket but an ageless cricketer of constant perfection in all disciplines; professionally, physically and mentally, on and off the field has been elaborated enough for the time being: perhaps the Indian fan is not able to be satisfied in the long term by one man, much like the promiscuity of the fan who claims such loyalty and yet possesses an unmatched fickleness and perhaps we’ll have to wait a little while before Raj graces all our 3D television screens…
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