What’s in a loss?
Everything. Or nothing.
India’s at the WT20
2014 finals has given seriously inedible food for the thoughts of the
cricket-crazy nation, leaving a bad taste of the memories of the 2003, and
later in 2007, World Cup. Only, this time it was the lone crusader Yuvraj who
had to bear the brunt of the irate fans.
Irate? But why stone
his house?
Yuvraj has to learn
from Dhoni – he collected all those stones, for memorabilia, pledging to
outnumber them with mementoes, trophies, cups – and he succeeded. And he has
bikes, for good measure. And he has Zoya,
too.
It wasn’t a meek
surrender, though. Only a little mind block. Read the newspapers reports of the
India-Australia match of the same tournament. Or read “http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/sports/india-vs-australia-t20-world-cup-match-statistical-highlights/article5854695.ece”.
The nation is adept at eulogizing and booing the same person at a close
interval.
Remember 2003? The
team that took all those stones on itself with a saintly calm, waded its way to
the dream final against Australia, only to lose by 125 runs – and no one
complained. The tournament happened in, of all the places, in SA!
After a “dream” run,
losing to Sri Lanka in a T20 final, was unacceptable. What a contrast!
Wonder what would have
happened had it been against Pakistan!
Poor Hafeez had to
resign, though he did not assign any reason for the WT20 2014 ouster, the
reason is evident. No. It’s not for losing to India. It’s for losing the way.
Why can’t the fans,
and administrators because of the fans, take victories and losses in equal
measure? Why can’t a few leaves from Sammy’s book be borrowed to learn a few
things of cricket? Of winning and losing? Of life?
After his team’s loss
to SL in the same tournament, he had this to say: "I took it like 'you
know what, we have won a World Cup'. We are a praying team, we know God
normally answers our prayers but today, I guess two gentlemen who have played
for Sri Lanka, given a lot not only to Sri Lanka cricket but cricket on the
whole, I guess the Almighty wants them to leave on a high, so I guess they have
one more game to try and win a World Cup and leave on a high. Probably that's
the reason why God put a hand in this match. I am sure I will have another shot
at playing the T20 World Cup and we are looking forward to winning it again in
the near future.". What an acknowledgement. Acknowledgement of dream. Of
humility. Of better opponents. Of cricket being just a game. Of determination.
And, of course, of God.
