Yet again a time for everyone to play an expert.

Once again the cricket fever is all set to grip the nation. All the commercials on television are around cricket. Endorsements of not only the current cricketers but even former players are peaking again. Every news channel has signed on a former cricketer for expert analysis of all the teams participating, the players and above all the composition and role to be played by each player in the Indian team. These discussions can go on for ever. After the match what we can have is hours of post match analysis. The should haves and the should have-nots.

Just before the team is set to leave for the most important tournament of the sport, I believe that this analysis doesn’t help much. One has to understand that there is no limit on the number of good players that can be under contention for a place in the side, but, there is certainly a limit on the number of people that can be picked. Some one has to be dropped while someone has to be picked. Once the squad is announced, once must stop discussing other combinations and back the touring fifteen.

India is a cricket crazy country. There are celebrations when the team does well and destruction otherwise…quite literally. What few people actually understand is the amount of hard work it takes to get there. It is easy slamming a bad performance. What needs publicity is not the cars that the cricketers drive or the designer labels they wear, what needs to be told are the stories of the hard work, perseverance and tenacity that has been instrumental in them making the grade. Even the greatest of the cricketers and the most gifted have had to slog for hours and hours for days on end. People complain about the injuries that Sachin has faced and write the great man off. What they do not understand is that injuries happen; one can’t help that in sport. What is creditable is the effort in making a comeback. People from small towns who are currently international cricketers have had to travel miles everyday for practice, have bowled everyday until their fingers have bled even after dark in the light provided by their scooter’s headlight.

No one talks about these things. They talk about the money they earn. In endorsements and otherwise. Harsha Bhogle on a talk show some years back when posed with a similar question had replied with the following: “do you know how much money the top lawyers, surgeons, accountants of the country make???”

Once you hear these figures, you will believe that these players truly deserve what they get.

Highlighting the right facts and projecting them well to the masses will only help the cricketers get the well deserved respect. Not for the hard work alone, but, for the fact that these are the very people who make our nation smile amidst gloomy times when they win. When India wins, the country sleeps well.

These cricketers surely deserve much better.

With this thought, lets us all wish our Indian team good luck for the upcoming ICC World Cup 2007.