On Neutral Grounds

IPL is a wonderful aggregator. It lifts cricket beyond the divisions of regions, formats, and countries. It causes Mathew Hayden and Andrew Flintoff to build an innings together. On the flipside, it distributes the loyalties of the Indian fans into multiple quarters. Which team do you support if you are a fan of Tendulkar and Dhoni alike? I understand that this dilemma applies to a minority of fans because most can simply support their state. Also, and thankfully so, indecisiveness rarely ails cricket fans, in cricket I mean. We all have firm and fast cricketing opinions. The queer problem of indecisiveness about favorites thus seems negligible by the law of enormous masses. I think there must be such a law.

Nevertheless, someone has to think of the minority and rescue them from the wooliness. Because, trust me, you can’t enjoy Cricket that way. Some would resort to the noble approach that “May the best team wins the game”. But do you really buy it? I don’t. To me it is like playing a T20 match with an approach suited for ensuring a draw in a test. With all due respects to the ‘original’ cricket, we aren’t talking of the gentlemen’s game here. This is T20. Hit or miss, just play the shots.

I quote a contradictory opinion over here for the sake of discussion. The quote is from a distinguished player and sports observer R. C. Robertson-Glasgow, a.k.a. Crusoe. Here is what he suggested about half a century ago:
“And yet, in games, it is the neutral who can, if he be permitted, arrest the departure of sanity, and suggest, by example, that it is rationality which is supposed to distinguish immortal man from the beasts that perish.”

Now, that was a whole lot of decades ago. Times have changed. We’ve learnt to accept that we are mortal and perish, we would. Modern sciences tell us that we are all fish brained at the core of our cranium. How much can one expect from just that? Nothing much really. Insanity is then the only choice and means to enjoy an aggressive game of T20 Cricket.

You must now give up playing safe and stick your neck out. Chose a team to cheer (or criticize) and hit the deck hard. The choice should be fairly simple if you are from one of the eight states with IPL teams. If not then you can chose a team that has some of your domestic players. If you are not so much for geography, then go for biography. Chose a player whose lifestyle or appearance you like and support his team. The point is you must choose. Even if you are not so much into cricket, chances are that you would still be into Bollywood. Hence, you can still choose a team. Most girls would clearly know weather or not they like Shahrukh Khan. And, I am yet to find a man who can’t chose between Preity Zinta and Shilpa Shetty.

With so many handy ways to choose a team, you can’t stay neutral – go pick a color.