Too many superstars!
Basudeb Guha-Khasnobis - 27 May 2002

The problem with Indian cricket is that there are far too many of these so-called cricketing superstars. It just takes a couple of good performances for Indian fans, supporters and the media to make a superstar out of an ordinary mortal. So much so that the player himself starts believing that he is indeed God's gift to the sports- loving community. In the current Indian team, Sachin Tendulkar (I find the hype surrounding him particularly shameless), Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble, VVS Laxman, and even Harbhajan Singh and Javagal Srinath are all superstars.

We fans help these superstars develop an inflated ego in no time. If the team happens to do well in a match in which there is a good performance by one of them, the concerned player feels that the credit for the performance is his and just his. These superstars, perhaps in their subconscious, stop respecting the fact that cricket is a team game and that they are irrelevant without the other 10 players in the side.

Another facet of the game that we the fans, the media, the selectors and the commentators make a big fuss about is captaincy. To be the captain of India is an honour indeed, but that does not mean that he is, in Orwellian terms, "more equal" than the others, and that he deserves a major share of the credit for the team's victory. He might not feel that way initially but we force him to feel that way in due course.

The way we talk about a captain's record (overseas wins, domestic wins blah blah blah) is also pathetic as is the way the captains themselves start reacting to this. This is irrelevant in the game of cricket, isn't it? All it does is create an unhealthy sense of rivalry amongst the team's superstars.

Most of our superstars also seem to feel that they should be made the captain. Commitment is the last thing that can emerge from this situation. I am sorry to say that no one in the Indian team seems an exception.

We indeed have stopped breeding the likes of Mohinder Amarnath, Kapil Dev, Eknath Solkar and Gundappa Vishwanath. Instead, we are producing a pathetic bunch of 'professional' cricketers for whom actual cricket soon becomes secondary. I do not think that this was something Sunil Gavaskar envisaged when he started his campaign for better compensation for players in the 70s.

Let me, at this point, make it clear that I do not blame the Tendulkars, the Dravids, the Gangulys and the Kumbles personally. They are victims of our peculiar and unhealthy craze for the game and the way it is controlled.

If I still have not made myself sufficiently clear let me sum up my message. On any given day, none of our superstars gives us a feeling that he is giving his all and playing for the pride of the nation. Mind you, it does not matter who the captain is Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid or Kumble.

The captain just cannot command a wholehearted effort from the other superstars in the team given the environment in which we breed our cricketers. Tell me frankly in which other country do you see cricketers given such a godly status? Nowhere else, right? Does that mean there is a dearth of good players and good teams elsewhere? Should I even bother answering that?

The views expressed above are solely those of the guest contributor and are carried as written, with only minor editing for grammar, to preserve the original voice. These contributed columns are solely personal opinion pieces and reflect only the feelings of the guest contributor. Their being published on CricInfo.com does not amount to an endorsement by CricInfo's editorial staff of the opinions expressed.
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