Brett Lee, apart from sending down thunderbolt yorkers during his heydays, also puts his fingers to good use to strum guitar with his band Six And Out. Curtly Ambrose, the giant all time great former West Indies fast bowler, plays base for the band Big Bad Dread & The Baldhead. Matthew Hayden loves to fish with his former Queensland colleague Andrewy Symonds, besides being a more than a decent cook. Andrew Flintoff tried his hand at professional boxing soon after quitting Cricket. Mark Waugh loves to put his money on his horses during Derby in his country.
These are just a few examples of cricketers having a versatile personality and their life not being restricted to Cricket. Do we have similar examples in India? I am afraid not so. When i was small, i came across an audio cd of Sanjay Manjeraker's album. He is the only Indian cricketer i can allude to who we know has a good talent for singing.
But what about many Indian cricketers, past and present? Why don't we know anything else about their life than may be a famous celebrity girl friend whom they are dating or their favourite food? Are our cricketers simple robots with a single minded track of playing cricket or do they have a more colourful off the field personality? On the evidence of what we are made to see via media, unfortunately the answer is not very impressive. We just do not see Indian cricketers having any other interest, serious hobby or any other serious creative talent. Let me make it clear that i might be totally wrong, but the point i want to bring home is that our media just does not cover those aspects of a cricketer which could reveal more about the person. We are provided with that perfect image of a cricketer who has no other mission in life than playing cricket and only cricket.
Even when we see our cricketers being interviewed, they come across as dull, monotonous, robotic individuals with readymade answers to readymade questions. Cricket presenters on sports channels are also not too good in terms of the way they present their questions. Our cricketers just do not showcase any kind of intellectual acumen during press conferences, there are absolutely no statements of disagreements or contradicting points of view.
This begs the question- are pur cricketers just a bunch of insecure serious cricketers who know they cant possibly do anything else in life but play cricket? Andrew Symonds was once interviewed by Harsha Bhoglen and Bhogle asked him a question with an extremely surprising look on bhis face as to why did he quit something that he liked most? Andrew Symonds' reply was that priorities in life change. Here our cricketers keep playing and playing until we find them being forced to leave.
In the past many Indian greats have retired, the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Saourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath... Can we know if even one of them is involved in any creative activity or having any other talent? No.
It is true that in a country where millions and millions of people want to become cricketers and play for India, the ones who actually get the chance are indeed extremely fortunate and truly treasure their chance to be an Indian cricketer. I believe this is where it all stems from. They are just not encouraged to hone their other skills and end up being monotonous robotic cricketers. It then reflects in the way they speak--absolutely bland and devoid of flair. We have flair on the field but off the field there is absolutely no flamboyance. I guess this is an indictment on the system that produces these cricketers.
These are just a few examples of cricketers having a versatile personality and their life not being restricted to Cricket. Do we have similar examples in India? I am afraid not so. When i was small, i came across an audio cd of Sanjay Manjeraker's album. He is the only Indian cricketer i can allude to who we know has a good talent for singing.
But what about many Indian cricketers, past and present? Why don't we know anything else about their life than may be a famous celebrity girl friend whom they are dating or their favourite food? Are our cricketers simple robots with a single minded track of playing cricket or do they have a more colourful off the field personality? On the evidence of what we are made to see via media, unfortunately the answer is not very impressive. We just do not see Indian cricketers having any other interest, serious hobby or any other serious creative talent. Let me make it clear that i might be totally wrong, but the point i want to bring home is that our media just does not cover those aspects of a cricketer which could reveal more about the person. We are provided with that perfect image of a cricketer who has no other mission in life than playing cricket and only cricket.
Even when we see our cricketers being interviewed, they come across as dull, monotonous, robotic individuals with readymade answers to readymade questions. Cricket presenters on sports channels are also not too good in terms of the way they present their questions. Our cricketers just do not showcase any kind of intellectual acumen during press conferences, there are absolutely no statements of disagreements or contradicting points of view.
This begs the question- are pur cricketers just a bunch of insecure serious cricketers who know they cant possibly do anything else in life but play cricket? Andrew Symonds was once interviewed by Harsha Bhoglen and Bhogle asked him a question with an extremely surprising look on bhis face as to why did he quit something that he liked most? Andrew Symonds' reply was that priorities in life change. Here our cricketers keep playing and playing until we find them being forced to leave.
It is true that in a country where millions and millions of people want to become cricketers and play for India, the ones who actually get the chance are indeed extremely fortunate and truly treasure their chance to be an Indian cricketer. I believe this is where it all stems from. They are just not encouraged to hone their other skills and end up being monotonous robotic cricketers. It then reflects in the way they speak--absolutely bland and devoid of flair. We have flair on the field but off the field there is absolutely no flamboyance. I guess this is an indictment on the system that produces these cricketers.
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