India beat Bangladesh in its first match in T20 WC. As was expected, the news channels loyally devoted their whole day showing the highlights of the match. The footages of Yuvraj Singh hitting his sixes and Pragyan Ojha scalping 4 wickets were shown so many times that it seems as if news channels are gearing up to give Star Cricket a run for their money. After all, who else can make a superstar out of someone who played his first match and was awarded Man of the Match for the same?
On the same day, a little earlier, the doubles team of Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy won the French Open Title. This was Leander Paes’ 9th Grandslam Title. I’m afraid to say that the news channels and newspapers did not care to devote even a fifth of the time they dedicated to this cricket match. The media always blames the government for showing lack of interest in sports other than cricket. But isn’t it doing the same? The fact of the matter is that Government does not show interest in any sport. It only spoils whatever goes into its hands. The media, sadly, comes to the fore only when it finds cases which would increase the TRPs and all the blame can be put upon the government. These hypocrites dedicate a full page of newspapers to cricket, while other sports have to console themselves with a few headlines.
For me, and for probably any other sports enthusiast, the French Open title is far much bigger than a match where India beats a minnow and which is being given so much coverage as if India has won a world cup itself. Spare a thought for the likes of Leander Paes (9 Grandslams), Mahesh Bhupathy (11 Grandslams) and Vishwanathan Anand (multiple times world champion) who have brought more laurels to Indian sport than cricket. Unfortunately, Indian tennis has become synonymous with Sania Mirza, who makes more headlines because of the controversies surrounding the length of her skirts as compared to her performances. No wonder, the future of Indian tennis looks bleak once the two torchbearers (Paes & Bhupathy) of the sport retire. Government killed Hockey; media is doing the same to other sports, albeit in a different manner.
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ReplyDeleteI feel you have raised an important issue of other sports (except cricket) being thrown into oblivion with the backdrop of media's proclivity for cricket at the cost of other sports.But I think it's high time we shun ourselves from escaping the reality and accept the way we are.We are a cricket frenzy nation,where if Sachin is bludgeoning Brett Lee or Shohaib Akhtar all around the park, the nation comes to a halt,students bunk their schools/colleges,homemakers leave their chores with their eyes glued to boob tube and shareholders and brokers at Dalal Street are more concerned with Sachin reaching his hundred than changes in those erratic Sensex figures.It might sound like a cliche but in India 'Cricket is a religion and Cricketers are God(try keeeping an ODI between India n Pak on diwali)',we adulate these 11 'men in blue'.With media being the reflection of Society we live in,it's not appropriate to revile media with charges of being biased towards cricket.Of course we cannot disparage the achievements of Leander Paes,Vishwanathan Anand or for that matter our hockey team,infact it would be a sacrilege to do so.But we must leave it to media ,which is concomitant of predilection of denizens of this cricket maniac nation, to show world champions playing against the minnows or an Indian paired up with a foreign player(rather than compatriot)winning a grand slam.
ReplyDeleteMY FRIEND ,REMEMBER LOVE AND RESPECT FOR ANYTHING CANNOT BE CLAMOURED,THEY ARE EARNED.
very nice post...
ReplyDeletei also feel the same thing...
everyone in this country heralds cricket (and cricketers)...much more than it deserves to be idealized...
i agree with what you said...even hockey finally came back into limelight (though just for a brief while) only because of chak de india and the asia cup it won subsequently...only to disappear from the media completely, later.
other sports in india are in a bad condition...
hi Aviral,
ReplyDeleteahh well u have a point there bt dont u thnk Indian media just wants to show what the public wants....most of the Indians wouldn't even know that thr was French open goin on!! We are Cricket manic and thr's no denying that fact....at the end of the day all tht we wanna c is Cricket news n our cricketers doing well whether it's agnst Bangladesh or any othr team....so y blame the media for evrythng????