Cricket - Winning and the Indian Cricket Team

So the Indian Cricket team leveled the Test Match series against Sri Lanka, winning by five wickets on a lively pitch. Was it exciting? You bet it was. !!! The Indian cricket team makes a huge drama while it wins or loses test matches.

The Indian cricket has perfected this drama to a fine art. Its like, they have somehow figured out what clicks with the Fans, unlike hockey. Let me explain this phenomenon further. When India was the No 1 country in Hockey, our team would win with clinical precision almost every match. The fans were complacent and my guess is that the boredom had started setting in. Then the world started to change the rules the way hockey was played and slowly the Indians lost out as the infrastructure required for training the players was quite expensive and they could not afford it at that time. So the team then started loosing with unfailing regularity and then lost the fans and the money. There was no drama, no wins to keep the fans hooked and therefore, no money and Hockey went kaput.

Enter cricket. Well after the Indian won the World cup, the team was badly thrashed by the west Indian Cricket team. However that did not mean Indians were not the world champions, they still were for four years. Their entire performance was so patchy till the next world cup (which they lost), that fans started clamouring for their blood. Then somehow, the team again had a good patch and they won a lot (also lost many matches) till the matchfixing controversy took over and devastated the fans. Now every match was viewed with the fans trying to figure out whether the match was fixed or not. This kept the interest alive in the game and money kept pouring in. Well, the Indian Cricket teams performance both off the field and on the field is nothing short of a Soap Opera. Why do I say that?

Well lets take their performance against the minnows of cricket - Bangladesh and Kenya. We have actually lost matches against them and come very close to loosing a few matches. All this meant was that Fans were always in a limbo. Will the team win or not, till the last ball? There is so much emotion attached to it. The Fans keep groaning that we made heavy weather of a simple match etc etc..but the bottom line is that they enjoyed the roller coaster ride to the hilt. There was an excitement in the air. Contrast this with the Australians. Theirs fans have got bored of their team winning with clinical precision, If this continues for a few years more, Cricket Australia will have to emigrate to India to make money.

The indian cricket team continues to behave like a maverick child who keeps the parents on their toes. The fans never really know what to expect. They view every match with a prayer on their lips. The team performance could be brilliant or completely mediocre. I think both are acceptable to the Fans. If they were brilliant, then there is all round euphoria. Everyone goes GA-GA, the media, the sponsors, the fans etc. If they were mediocre, then the entire nation is in depression. The future of the team players is debated (point to be noted- not the future of the game). Calls to kick this one out and that one out start and so on. Basically, There is enough drama till the next match. The Indian Cricket team has figured this out!!! Their win record is just between 50-70 % or so in all formats of the game. They rarely win all the matches in a series, They make heavy weather of even simple matches because no Fan likes a clinical win. They need the excitement that comes with uncertainty and the opportunity the team provides them to vent their feelings (anger or happiness).

So as this tour of Sri Lanka proved again, There was something in it for everyone. The Indians lost the first match tamely, drew the second one with a great batting performance and won the third with some good batting and bowling performance courtesy Sachin Tendulkar, Sehwag and Laxman. The new boy , Mithun was in cracking form and the Fans now are looking forward to him becoming the next all rounder. But mark my words, The Indian team is capable of winning every match they play, but subconsciously they will not. The day they start that streak, the Fans will get bored and loose interest and stop watching. If they do that, the sponsors wont get returns on the money they invested in them and they shall pull out. If that happens, obviously the cricketers wont get much money and therefore shall be in a limbo.. Its in the interest of cricketers that THEY DONT WIN EVERY MATCH. 

Mark my words, This trend shall continue and till the time this trend continues, the cricketers shall make a lot of money. Thats why, The Indian team does not win regularly. The latest series against Australia underway at present, shall hopefully prove this hypothesis...Check out http://hubpages.com/hub/Cricket-The-Home-series-against-Australia-2010 for a recap.