Cricket: From 'a sport to a Profession' in India

Chapter – 04

The rise of the icons came with the price. 

               It was evident that the people would instantly be fans of this game. Where there is a huge fan base there will always be a rise in the idol models. Again, India is a country that puts emotions into everything. They saw Indian cricket growing its standards at a rapid pace. To see it growing, the players were getting as much praise as they should. Before the television era, no one saw how the game was played at the international level but after they started watching them play live, it was more than just a sport for many. Individuals such as Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Roger Binny, Ravi Shastri, and many more prominent Indian players were icons for many youths. Following that the new generation of Indian cricket was just stepping their foot onto the ground like Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Anil Kumble, Venkatesh Prasad, Ajith Agarkar, Navjot Singh Siddu and the list goes on and on. These names are not just any common thing in India. If you ask any cricketer or cricket enthusiast, they would all, be familiar with these names. We can say that these names were and will always be the pillars of Indian cricket. If today India is recognized as a cricketing nation, then these names would be written in golden letters at the bottom of the pillar where there is strength of solitude. India achieved a lot of things as the days passed by. Every youth wanted to be a cricketer like someone they admired. The players got fame and the monetary benefits that fame brought them, which was another great thing that changed drastically in Indian cricket.

               However, the inflow of money that was seen in cricket caught the eye of some dark practices. What are these dark practices? You might also be familiar with these practices like betting and match-fixing. In India, it is reported that in the year 2000 Delhi police caught one South African cricketer named Hansie Cronje then captain of the national team was involved with this malpractice. He also named a couple of Indian cricketers as well and they are Mohammed Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja who were also involved in this practice. However, they were banned for some years but eventually played soon after the case was closed. Not drastically but gradually some people started seeing the sport as a money-making business it didn’t matter to them if it was fair or unfair. All that mattered was money. If we talk about the people who are involved in these, I cannot be the one to judge anyone or even comment on this. However, I would say it is and will always be a black mark on Indian cricket. As of today, we are in the year 2024 we cannot even say which, matches are fixed or not because we all sense something fishy but still get fooled. However, I am not the one to be concerned about those because there are a set of legal rules that are and will be carried out to note such practices. 

               What concerns me is that the sport is getting involved with people who might have not even held the bat in their lives getting involved with the sport. Not just any people but the people who are backing their own political agendas, business agendas, and personal agendas into the sport. You might ask in what ways it is affecting the sport. When these factors come then there will no longer be sport it will become business in my opinion. Like any other corporate work, the sport will also be a regular business and the players are hired. The hiring process will become more untransparent. Because the talent factor somewhere in this gets hindered and all that remains is the money and power. The one with an edge in the form of money and power will eventually go on to write a better success story. There will be no more equal opportunities provided. It is debatable in some ways but to be honest, money and power can overtake talent. As we all know the population of people participating to be professional cricketers over the nation. And how can money and power can overtake talents? I may be prejudiced in this say but I strongly believe this prejudiced opinion of mine because the sport is walking through this path. Also, it may have walked down the lane pretty much far from the grasp of being noticed.