Time to move on from cricket

The indian team has lost. Do I care? Well I did for the first few hours after it happened…but then now I can honestly say I don’t. Watching them play, you could see that they just didn’t want it enough. After the loss to bangladesh every person I know critisised the team to no end while I stood firmly by them saying 'they had a bad day. That’s it'…but that really isn't it! They deserved to lose the two games that they lost because they played badly. Nearly every one of them! And yes for a moment I will jump on the now popular 'bash-tendulkar' wagon because the entire country for more than a decade has been obsessed with the man. I was watching a show on NDTV that was analyzing India's exit from the world cup and 3 out of every 4 callers was asking the hosts, Siddhu and Jadeja what the future of tendulkar was. Not indian cricket…but Tendulkar!! I mean really?! I have stopped turning on NDTV now because all they do is use the same crappy words to describe india's exit. What's the point of all this talk. Its over! Move on! And think of it this way…the way they played…had they managed to make it to the super 8, what is the guarantee that they would have won any of the games apart from Ireland perhaps (if even that I can hear some of you think!). So maybe this is better than being humiliated 5 times over? Cuz seriously, there's no way they can beat South Africa, Australia or New Zealand the way they're playing at the moment!

Anyway, at the end of the day, its just a game. And I don’t know when people will start to realise that. Ok they played badly, ok they deserve to be questioned about the way they went about their task. But burning effigies? Throwing stones at their homes? What kind of crap is that? Do people in India and Pakistan really have nothing better to do with their time?

And I heard on the news today that a man in India committed suicide because he bet a large amount of money on the India-Bangladesh game. Another death in the name of cricket.

And of course, who can forget the biggest news in cricket at the moment? Bob Woolmer murdered. Whatever the reason may be…it had something to do with cricket. A GAME!! Which caused a person's death! You would think people would learn a lesson to not take the game itself as seriously. But here they are making a national issue out of a team's loss at a GAME! Do they even realise the sort of coverage all that gets outside the country. The way burning effigies and destroying property is portrayed by the western media? What does that say about India? I’m embarrased when I watch the news here. When will they grow up?

On a slightly more positive note...I'm not trying to say that supporting sport is bad. Its great to feel pride in your team/country. But just take it with a pinch of salt please! As for me...I will still watch the world cup. And support my number two team...they thankfully have been doing well so far. Go Black Caps :)