The Great Indian Fan !

The defending champs, Team India, has been knocked out of the ICC World Cup 2015. They had a great run in the tournament with 7 straight victories and just one loss, but in the semi-finals. Still I would say I was delighted by team India’s performance. I never thought they would make it so far in the cup because of their dismal show in the tri-series just a couple of months back. In fact when I first saw the #WeWontGiveItBack campaign on TV, like most of the Indian fans, I too burst into laughter and thought of why they were making a mockery of Indian cricket. I am sure even the actors in that ad were not convinced about India’s long run the World cup, forget about winning it.

Now the thing is that as a fan we feel it’s our birthright to criticize the team’s selection, performance, decisions etc. etc. I am fine with that, but as a modern day cricket fan we should also keep some rationale behind our expectations and we need not become greedy as soon as most of them are met. Fans also need to stick to what they believe in, we can’t keep changing sides according to the tide.

So when the cup started, I assume not even 1 % of fans believed in, India winning it. Then why there is so much of hue and cry when actually we should be celebrating India’s performance, after all they performed better than expected, isn't it ? I remember everyone treating the India Pakistan match on 15^th Feb like a World Cup final and hence social media was flooded with Pak bashing messages, which as an Indian you really enjoy. But I am just thinking that how we may react if India ever loses to Pak in a WC match? I am afraid that Indian players would be treated much badly with bag full of abuses and their homes pelted with stones.

But over here we were quite happy and content with a win over Pak. As Team India started winning more matches, the Indian fan started expecting them to win the World Cup. Now that is like embarking on an unknown journey and thinking we would never fail. It doesn’t happen, you will fail some or the other day, only important thing is that you need to learn how well the failure can be handled.

I think that one’s expectation should be directly proportional to the impact of failure he/she is capable of handling. But most of the cases the latter is lower, hence leading to frustration, anxiety etc. In this case, it was in the form of social media trolling, distasteful jokes over WhatsApp, breaking television sets and burning effigies of players who were your heroes just a day before. Now to go a bit further, fans sometimes also think the presence of a player’s spouse is a bad omen due to which they fail miserably on the ground. Ahh… Come on, it’s like saying that you goofed up in one of the annual day presentations at office because your spouse was sitting somewhere in the audience. How can that be linked? Till today I believed that having someone from your family in the audience only boosts your performance on stage or in any other arena. How can they be blamed if you were not able to give your best shot? Plus, do you think a player gets distracted by the presence of a single person in a crowd of 50-60 thousand people? I really don't think so. And to make it a bit more unfair, we sympathize with players of other countries on their failures, but abuse our own heroes.

Anyways the point which I want to make is that a great fan is the one who stands by the team through thick and thin. Either you don’t root for their success, or if you do, then be ready to accept their failures. Indian fan is famous across countries for being most enthusiastic and energetic, but that doesn't mean that we also need to top the list of most intolerant fans.

As I am about to submit this post, I can see Kiwis losing the WC final to Aussies. I am sure that their fans would not be abusing them or blaming their girlfriends for the loss, rather they would heartily welcome them back. Such thinking comes when you start accepting the things the way they are and that comes naturally to you as you grow up. But has the Indian fan grown up? remains still a question!

Congratulations !! Aussies the World Champ !! #YouTookItBack