Letters to the Editor: Worst losers in the world

Why are we Indians so ungrateful and unforgiving when it comes to cricket?

Our politicians keep making promises every 5 years without any accountability and keep getting elected for one term after another. Some keep 'serving' the people with one leg in their coffins. Then there are film stars who keep receiving love and support despite perpetual failures because of that one brilliant performance they gave a zillion years ago. That's fine, and I'm not even asking for such a Mother Teresa level of generosity for our cricketers, but how about basic courtesy?

There is absolutely no denying the fact that it was one of the most embarrassing bowling and fielding performances that one can remember in recent times by a very talented Indian team at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Thursday (which is expected to do wonders every single time it steps on to the field). It is perhaps not just the defeat but the manner of it that has really hurt the sentiments of Indian fans, and I completely understand that (having had a miserable day myself). However, what I can't understand is the amount of hate that I can see brewing for some of the players all over social media.

Suddenly, they are too old to play the format, too rich (due to IPL) to try hard, too selfish playing for individual records, too timid to perform under pressure, too arrogant to select the right players and whatnot? Some people even went on to the extent of hinting that the match might have been thrown away on purpose. Ridiculous!

Yes, just like we sing praises for our heroes when they make us proud, we have every right to criticize them when they underperform. However, analysing what went wrong and what could have been done is one thing and launching such blatant personal attacks on our players who have given us so much joy in the past and literally bled for us on the field is disgusting. It is so ungrateful. So unfair! It's so easy to make judgments in hindsight. Aren't we backing the same players to go all the way when the squad was announced a couple of months ago? Barring one or two minor disagreements, nobody seemed to have much trouble with the person picked to do the job. Now, all of a sudden, every single thing concerning the overall process is being put to the sword by the People's High Court of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and others.

Lately, there's been a tendency to put the blame on the IPL for losses and young players are accused of not working hard enough after having made good money early in their careers due to the IPL. Have we forgotten the two back-to-back Test series wins on Australian soil in the last 4 years? Which team in the history of the sport has done that ever? We did it with half our players injured for more than half of the series in 2021 with more or less the same team that we are screaming at today.

The one player my heart goes out to is India's vice-captain KL Rahul who is bearing the brunt of the wrath at the moment. I can see people calling him 'fraud' because he apparently doesn't perform in 'big matches'. So what exactly is a big match? Is every match you play for your country against any opposition not big? Was India's first match of the campaign against Pakistan not big? Were the matches that followed not big? Would any team qualify for the knockouts if they don't win the league stage matches?

The GOD of cricket - Sachin Tendulkar scored 4 and 18 in the two 'biggest' matches of his career. If we go by the logic of KL Rahul haters, Sachin Tendulkar will have to be considered a failure despite his 100 100s, isn't he?

All said, "We are horrible losers!" The way we are reacting to the defeat is more embarrassing than the defeat itself. There are times we dominate and there will be times we get dominated. If anything, we should be glad the former happens much more frequently than the latter.

The opposition doesn't turn up for a semi-final of a world championship so that Indian cricket fans can have their prize and we have to understand that. England played brilliant cricket and made us look like schoolboys on the field. Why can't this also be an acceptable possibility sometimes?

New Zealand lost to Pakistan in the other semi-final in a similar manner. Do we see so much hate for their national players in their country? Let us learn from them.

Fahd Alam Hazarika,

Guwahati

Helping hand

In this era of violence, selfishness and insensitivity, a heartening piece of news is indeed turning rarest of rare. In this sad perspective, a particular development not only gladdens our hearts; but serves as a balm on our injured souls as well. No kudos is enough for Chhoton, son of poor hawker Kanai Karmakar of West Bengal's Bankura district, for cracking the IIT-JEE examination by fighting against poverty and all sorts of adversities and that too without enjoying the facility of professional coaching.

Hats off to the friends and teachers of Chhoton for their selfless initiative of collecting around Rs 35,000 so that he can secure admission to IIT.

And what to say of IIT Kharagpur authorities who have taken in Chhoton despite the first-semester admission fee being Rs 1.7 lakh by awarding a higher pedestal to social responsibility over monetary interest! Indeed there lies no word of thanks to IIT Kharagpur for assuring Chhoton to concentrate on his studies instead of worrying over finances. The IIT authorities have indeed acted divinely by ensuring that the dream and career of Chhoton don't get nipped in bud just for monetary factors.

Lastly, Kanai Karmakar. The poor hawker might not possess the ability to grasp the magnitude of Chhoton's success for obvious reasons; but he is educated enough to possess a sense of gratitude, thereby inspiring him to urge his son to act kind merciful and stand by the poor in the same way as people are helping him fulfil his dream now.

While Chhoton has simply knocked out the racist exclusive "gene theory" upside down by cracking the IIT-JEE examination despite being the son of a hawker; the enlightened Kanai Karmakar, possessed of ethics values kindness and humanity, has proved that the real essence of education lies much above mere academic degree and a certificate obtained from Universities.

The joint initiative of the teachers and friends of Chhoton Karmakar and the milk of kindness exemplified by the IIT authorities have once again proved what a humanitarian height can be achieved through mutual love, respect and extension of the hand of cooperation with a bit of selfless sacrifice and sense of responsibility towards the general welfare of society.

In the immortal novel of Fyodor Dostoyevsky titled 'Idiot', the Superintendent of the Swiss clinic tells the protagonist Prince Lev Nikolayevich Myshkin that almost all problems would get vanished from the face of society and earth if people act a bit sympathetic towards each other.

We should also draw inspiration from the humanitarian lines of the legendary Dr Bhupen Hazarika's song "Manuhe Manuhar Babe/Jodihe Okono Nabhabe/Akanu Hahanubhutire/ Bhabibo Kunenu Hua? /Homoniya...!" (If a man does not spare a little thought, who else would weep for fellowmen, Tell me, O friend!").

Kajal Chatterjee,

Peerless Nagar, Kolkata-114

Congrats England!

Huge congratulations to all of England's cricket team. What an outstanding win! Not in my wildest dreams did I think England would coast to victory over such a much-hyped good Indian team. Brilliant performance by England! Its skipper Josh Butler is already a legend in the IPL and people pay extra pennies to see him there. Now he showed what he can do on the world stage. On the other hand, India skipper Rohit Sharma did the exact opposite. His failures as a batsman rubbed off on his captaincy. He lacked energy and could not inspire his team.

This is not the day of India! If not then why England's three previous run chases in the competition, against Afghanistan, Ireland and Sri Lanka, were all uncomfortable this was a team transformed. They took a quite different approach to their innings to India, England reached 170 with all 10 wickets and four overs to spare, with Hales (who scored 86 of 47) and Buttler (80 of 49) producing not just the largest but in any sense you like the greatest opening partnership in England's Twenty20 history.

On the other side taking into account all of its advantages, including the size of the population, the dominance of cricket in its sporting culture and the power and wealth of the BCCI, India must be one of the most underperforming teams in any sport on the planet – truly feeble efforts from them today. Largely passive batting and fielding, particularly I had to laugh at Shami's fielding when his relay throw went over the other fielder's head - summed up the game at that point, to be honest!

Captain Rohit Sharma was very quick to blame the bowler's lack of accuracy but he had forgotten that a spinner like Axar Patel can be introduced during the power play while Y Chahal is warming the bench throughout the tournament and not forgetting the legendary Sunil Gavaskar had suggested to get him in place of Axar for he is a serious wicket-taking bowler.

I have a different opinion about Virat Kohli is vastly, almost overrated. Truly great players get to be truly great because they turn up in games like these and play spectacular innings. He didn't. He has no excuses today either. Look at his 50 off 40 balls and compare with Butler and Hales and no one can be in any doubt about who the better players were. Maybe, due to this Kohli may hide and has not been found after the match.

Whatsoever, for the finals, it will be English batting against Pakistan pace. However, the key players for both sides will be their leg spinners. Congrats England! If Woods is fit, they are the best team in the tournament.

Bidyut Kumar Chatterjee,

Faridabad 121005