WHY NOT CRICKET? ----- How would India look like without cricket.

The topic isn’t new for Indians, but is debated very little. It’s simply because cricket in India is more than a sport. It’s a religion. It’s what unites us (India –Pakistan Match) and separates us (IPL). But what would India look like without cricket?

Let me start by making this clear: I am not against the game of cricket but I am against the fact that cricket overshadows almost every other sport in our country single handedly. The game & the players are not to be blamed; they are simply doing what they are paid to do. The attention must be paid to action of our Sports Ministry to this fact. Sure they are already aware of the overwhelming power of cricket in India. But shouldn’t we be looking at other sports too.

Let’s start with a simple example. Take any sports channel in our country and evaluate the time allocated of cricket vs the time allocated for Hockey (Our National Game). I can bet that, for days together you won’t find even one hockey match. But has that ever happened to cricket?

In India there are channels dedicated exclusively to cricket (Ten cricket, Star cricket). Is there any other game that enjoys the same royalty here? Long story short: India is not a sporting nation. India is a cricketing nation.

Now that we have our problem in hand, it’s time to look at the solution. Let us have a look at other cricketing nations and their management of sports.

CRICKETING NATION	MEDALS WON AT OLYMPICS 2012
Australia	35 (7G, 16S , 12 B)
England	65  (29G, 17S, 19 B)
New Zealand	13  (6G, 2S, 5B)
South Africa	6   (3G, 2S, 1B)
India	6  (0G,2S, 4B)

Table clearly shows that it is possible to achieve in international arena despite playing good cricket. So, it’s high time that our ministry starts implementing the model of Australia and England. Both the countries have excelled in more than one sport. Australia have excelled in many sports (cricket, rugby, swimming etc.) while the English excel in Football, Rugby, cricket among others.

It is the duty of our ministry to ensure the growth of other sports as well. There is a lot of space in our country for all the sports to grow together. Will the growth of other sports affect that of cricket? Yes, it will. But that’s the sacrifice we must be willing to take in order to become a global sporting super power, if at all our country intends to be one.

What’s mentioned is easier said than done. But that should not stop us from doing what needs to be done. We should take the first step by building the necessary Infrastructure. When the government starts to show genuine concern towards other sports, the sponsors will automatically turn in that direction and ultimately, so will the Media.

I wish there comes a time when we can encourage our children and grand children to pursue sports as an active career.