Sreesanth and The Myth of the Patriotic Sportsperson

I found the outrage over Sreesanth’s spot fixing amusing.

For one, I wonder how much of coverage would the scandal have got if it was only Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila who got caught. Last year, three cricketers were dumped for proclaiming on a sting operation that they could fix matches if they wanted to. So it was not really a big deal.

Now, since it is Sreesanth, there is a lot of talk about it. If Indian cricket was a collection of memes, Sreesanth would be the Troll. A lifetime of antics, theatrics, and short balls on the middle stump have given the guy the reputation of a brainless twit.

But I have always looked at Sreesanth with animosity. Right from the beginning.

But for that, you have to go back with me a long way. Into the mind of a scrutinising, unforgiving 12 year old cricket fan.

You see, Kerala had never produced any cricketers, just like Orissa. Almost every other state in the country had produced one or the other cricketer, except for Kerala and Orissa. Of course, Kerala was blessed with other stuff like tourism, backwaters, and Shakeela.

Orissa on the other hand, had nothing going for it. There had been a devastating cyclone, and the only thing super about it, tragically, was that it was named a Super Cyclone.

Around that time, the first Malayali cricketer made his debut – Tinu Yohannan.

I remember the papers and media going gaga about Yohannan – ‘The First Cricketer from God’s Own Country’, and this and that. Nothing was said about Debashis Mohanty, him being the first cricketer from Orissa, and how on an off day, he could at least influence the match in some way.

Orissa, of course, went crazy. For the first time, we had someone out there on a national level. At the time, every person in Bhubaneswar had a Debashis Mohanty story to narrate – “Oh him? He used to play with my elder brother, really nice bloke!” or something like that.

While Yohannan fizzled out, Debashis Mohanty went on to get a few more opportunities. When he was selected for the 1999 World Cup, the entire state went crazy. Mohanty went on to acquire 10 wickets in six matches in the series for India, and yet, there was no mention at all. It was to be the beginning of the end of his career.

After a few years, came Shiv Sundar Das – a dimunitive test opener who was hailed as the next Sunil Gavaskar. He scored one Test century, and was part of the historic Eden Gardens test of 2001. But soon, he had fizzled out too.

Abey Kuruvilla, a Malayali born cricketer who had played for Mumbai had made his debut, but in spite of his 6.6” frame, made little impact on the team. The odds were clearly favoured in Orissa’s side.

Orissa 2 – Kerala 1.

Then, came Biranchi Maharana. It was the year 2003, and Greg Chappel was the country’s modern version of the gora who was dividing and ruling the country. Dada had been dropped, and Chappel was also accused of creating disharmony between Sachin and Dravid.

As it is said in the Bhagwad Gita:

Yada yada hi dharmasya, glanirbhavati bharata,

Oriya fan taketh matters into hands, gives one tight slapaha

When he slapped Greg Chappel, the entire nation rejoiced.

Orissa – 2 + A Gazillion Brownie Points – Kerala 1

Orissa had clearly won the war.

Then, in a few years, came Sreesanth.

The first time I had heard about him was that he had sledged Sachin Tendulkar in the Challenger Trophy. I am sure he got into the team on the basis of sheer balls. The Andre Nel incident happened not long after, and I was glad that the most annoying cricketer in the world was at least on our team and not with the opposition.

For all his brouhaha, Sreesanth could still perform on an odd day, if the Gods were kind, and his Monkey Mind wasn’t clapping away at the batsman after giving away a boundary. He had almost cemented his place in the Indian cricket team, and I grudgingly admitted defeat in the Orissa-Kerala Cricket War.

Over the years, Sreesanth, like Life itself, has provided both pain and pleasure in equal measure.

Pleasure when he pissed the Australians off, leaving Hayden and Symonds red faced with the fact that there could be a bigger asshole than them on the field – and he wasn’t Australian. Pain when he would spray the ball outside the off stump like a 5 year old who wanted a Superman costume but was given a copy of Wisdom magazine.

Pleasure when he bounced out Jacques Kallis in South Africa, giving India one of its most satisfying victories in foreign soil. Pain when, even in the World Cup final, he couldn’t keep his aggression in control, giving away 52 runs in 8 overs.

On YouTube, Cricinfo, and countless other fora on the web, Malayali fans supported him wholeheartedly. The rest of the world, including the Three Wise Men of Indian Cricket – Shastri, Gavaskar, and Bhogle – always smiled when discussing Sreesanth.

Very soon, the entire cricketing world was divided into two teams – Mallus vs. Rest of the World. The Mallus loved Sreesanth inspite of his utter lack of line, length, and charm. The rest of the world was plain annoyed by him.

Some of the comments can still be found on YouTube, where they talk about how it was an Aryan conspiracy that he was kept out of the side, of how he will never get his due because everyone in the dressing room speaks in Hindi, and other such reasons.

It must have been hard for the fans – justifying someone who clearly had the emotional maturity of a caterpillar, but they stuck on.

When the scandal broke out, it was an opportunity for the rest of the world to rejoice and mock the guy. There was a hidden pleasure in calling the guy a chutiya and saying, “I always knew he was upto some crap.”

People accused him of corrupting the religion of cricket, the holy game of the country. Which is all bullshit. No game is holy. Except the games you play on Holi!

Rotten jokes aside, I don’t see why such a hue and cry is being made. Cricket has always been surrounded by controversies. Captains have passed on information and coaxed their team mates to underperform, players have passed on information to bookies, and gotten a mere rap on the knuckle by their boards, and a national coach was once found dead in the dressing room after a disastrous loss to a minnow.

Where is the holiness? What religion are you talking about?

The words used to describe the scandal are also amusing – ‘he has shamed the country’, ‘played with the emotions of the fans’, ‘broken the bond of trust with the fans’ – trust Indians to get emotional and touchy over everything.

And this is where I have a problem with the idea of the patriotic sportsperson.

The newspapers keep saying that it is the dream of every cricketer to play for the nation, to make the nation proud. May be that is not always the case.

It is understandable that the players would want to play for themselves too. Take for example, the ugly incident of Indian tennis players revolting against each other. Now, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupati are veterans, having won the Wimbledon, and every major Grand Slam that exists. Yet, after years of experience, they refused to play with each other for the Olympics – that crowning glory for every sporting country. Not only that, they divided the rest of the team and blackmailed the federation into accepting their demands.

There have been thousands of such incidents, in every sport, across the globe which prove that not every sportsperson is out there to make his/her country proud. Gayle brings joy to Indian fans every summer, but he has had a bitter embargo with his own country’s cricketing board.

Not every sportsperson is patriotic.

If you think about it, being a sportsperson is tough. It is a tough choice to make, and it requires the highest amounts of sacrifice and hard work. Of course, if everything clicks, the remuneration is well worth the effort. But there still dangles a big ‘IF’.

And remember, being selected is dependant on a myriad number of reasons – the selectors, dirty politics, luck, timing, the quality of opposition, the nature of the pitch, level of coaching and infrastructure, among the many.

After all this, when the cricketer has final made it into the team, why is it so difficult to understand that he/she might not really want to make the nation proud. That he/she might want to secure a decent life for himself/herself? That he could skip a tour for the IPL, and make extra money selling Rupa Frontline underwears?

I am not saying it was fair to cheat during the matches. Those are ethical issues with a thousand different interpretations. All I am saying is do not expect every sportsperson to lay his/her life down for the nation. They might have other things on their mind.

And as a nation, it will only save us some heartbreak when the next bit of information comes out…