Legendary hockey player Dhyan Chand’s dominance over the game of hockey was all pervasive at the Berlin Olympics. On being told that he was an ordinary Subedar in the Indian Army, German dictator Hitler told him that had you been in the German army, I would have made you a Field Marshal. When Indian team scored some 500 goals in about 40-odd matches on their tour to Australia, the legendary batsman Sir Don Bradman famously commented, “It appears as if Indian hockey players score goals like cricket runs.” During the heydays of Indian hockey, the national team called the shots in major sporting events, annihilating opponents with utter disdain. But gradually things took a turn for the worse with the Indian team failing to keep pace with vastly improving European rivals. Those were the days that were.
And, alas, with a drop of an eyelid Indian hockey fell from grace and Cricket was catapulted to the throne of Sport King. Where and how the magical curved stick broke in the razzle dazzle of sport fairs is a moot point? A game that had a past is being kicked to a pathetic future. Did we banish this game of masses into oblivion ? Will we ever be able to resurrect the glorious past of hockey? It seems unlikely given the current state of affairs where Indian players are not even being given their salaries and required infrastructure and training.
Let us compare the fortunes of cricket and hockey players. Each cricketer makes Rs 1,60,000 / ODI and Rs 2,50,000 / Test. A hockey player earns Rs 25,000 / tournament + a small daily allowance.
As a dispassionate observer of the ever growing craze of Cricket among people few thoughts come to my mind. What exactly is there in this game that make Cricket so interesting to watch ? Why people are so crazy about it ?
Looking into retrospect, we find only few names in sport firmament of pre-independence India. Dhyan Chand in hockey and Gama in wrestling. I would be grateful if the readers could add more names other than the cricket stars like Lala Amarnath and Senior Nawab Patoudi and Co. I will give full credit to shooters, billiard, tennis, badminton players and wrestlers who have registered their presence in recent Olympics. As for as the hockey history we had even failed to qualify for the Olympic.
The only game where we are considered somewhat at par with other sporting nations is Cricket. For us we find our ideals in our cricket team. When the team wins we win and when the team losses the whole nation take it as a national catastrophe. Cricketers are our role models. The sorry state of other Indians sports such as Hockey & Football assure us that Cricket will be the only source of role models for Indians in many many years to come.
Secondly, cricket is a sport which gives the opportunity to individual players to become national hero in minutes. A batsman who hits six on the last ball of the innings and win the match for its team becomes a national hero overnight. Indians have not forgotten the last ball Six of Javed Miyandad (of Pakistan) which shattered our dreams of winning the Sharjah Cup in 1985. In Cricket just one player can change the fortune of his team. The element of unpredictability till last over pushes the adrenaline of the masses. This might be one reason as to why Cricket has such a mad following in India. In hockey last minute surprises such as a save by a goalkeeper or a winning penalty shot are rare and don’t happen regularly.
Cricket has become a commercial game and its huge popularity in India is encashed by big companies and satellite channels. It provides a unique opportunity of small breaks. After every Over for a short period of 20-40 seconds the bowling end of the pitch is changed and commercial adds find their entry. Unlike other sports like Hockey & Football which provide the opportunity of Commercial break only during the half time, a single One-Day match of cricket gives the opportunity of showing commercial advertisement more than 100 times.
To conclude, I don’t believe that there is any step motherly treatment to hockey. Its simply a phenomenon of demand and supply.
Public loves cricket. Instead of cursing their fate and fighting at every front, the players of other sports must accept this reality. Changing times and commercialism are the factors which have pushed the cricket to the top of the games. Unless they show some unique achievements that would catch the imagination and satisfy the Indian youth there is no more lollipops in other games. It is simply the taste of the public that keep the bat reining.
