So, MSD has finally
called it quits as far as the longer version of cricket is concerned. As has
happened countless times in the past, as soon as the team starts doing badly,
people start discovering villains. And more often than not, it is the captain who
is given all the blame.
Actually, the crux
of the problem it seems is that people cannot accept a loss even if it occurs
in a sport. If it wasn’t about winning some AND losing some, sport wouldn’t
have been sport in the first place.
For a lot many
years, it was taken for granted that if the Zimbabwe team was playing a cricket
match, it was certain to lose it. Not that the Zimbabwe players didn’t give
their best. It was just that the other teams were better than them. But still
they kept on trying until they started winning and people started taking them
seriously. The opposite was taken for granted for the once indomitable West
Indies team.
In sport, people
and teams face defeats. But more than the result, it is the game itself that
provides all the joy and entertainment. Supremely talented sportspersons lose,
but they still provide moments of bliss to those who watch them play. The final
result of a game just adds to the excitement and just adds up in the record
books.
But we, the people
of today are obsessed with the result. And that too a positive one. People are
happy as long as the team wins. Even if it wins on the basis of a stupid rule
after the game being interrupted by rain.
So it’s no wonder
that people want a person who provides them with wins. At any cost. And this
goes not just for sport but even about political leaders of the country.
Another thing which
is baffling is how we spontaneously equate talent with leadership. We take it
for granted that a player who is more talented in playing skills than others
will automatically be a better leader. We did this with Sachin Tendulkar. But
he was intelligent and insightful enough to understand the difference between
talent and leadership.
A leader in sport
is not always the best player of the team. He is someone who can bind the players
as a team and is able to extract the maximum out of them in terms of
performance. He is one who inspires the team in times of low confidence. And
above all, he should be someone who conducts himself as an ambassador of his
team and country in a respectful way.
MSD was is the
example of a leader in the true sense. Not losing his cool and maintaining a
level head even in tough situations were the qualities exemplified by him.
But I would
personally never like to have the leader of a group of players who represent my
country as a person who doesn’t even know the basic levels of decency while on
the playing field. Ricky Ponting was a very talented cricketer. And a highly
successful captain too. But was he a good ambassador for cricket or his country
? NO !
It is extremely sad
to see how people prefer a misbehaving (though highly talented) captain to lead
and represent the country. Maybe because they expect him to produce victories
for the team which eventually add up in the record books. For people today, a
victorious result brings a strange sense of satisfaction irrespective of how
the game was played. After all, people are obsessed with victories. At any
cost.
(Image Courtesy : Google Images)
