Some other day, I came across a beautiful cartoon of R.K Laxman in the Times of India, which is all about Indian Premier League (IPL) and Indian Cricket League (ICL). The cartoon is that, a father restrains his son for studying at home, instead of going out and playing cricket. Because, playing cricket has a future. So, the younger generation must aspire to become cricketers. There is nothing wrong. After all, there is no reservation based on caste, creed or community in cricket. Only ‘Talent Show’!
The Twenty20 World Cup victory has changed the face of Cricket in India, if not; it has definitely changed the common perception towards the game, which has reflected our popular culture down the years. I can say candidly.
Cricket is now commercialized (totally), though it was much before the formation of ICL and IPL. It is the best money-making, as well as money-spinning tool in our country. Just play for three hours and earn an exaggerated amount, to say crores and crores. The vigorous campaign led by both ICL and IPL, made it vibrant. Before further saying, let me come straight to the argument, I have raised.
Where are our Oriya players? None of these top 15 Oriya cricketers (except Halhadar Das) are in the ICL, IPL and even in the National Team.
It is almost five and half years after Shiv Sunder Das axed from Team India following his disastrous performance in West Indies tour, not a single player from here, has made it to the national squad.
For BCCI, Das is just like other discarded players. Going by the recent performances of Orissa players, it seems very less chance for them to get a place in the Senior Squad. No franchise is willing to hire them. Why?
Today, Orissa Cricket lacks,
- Modern Infrastructure
- Major cricket grounds
- Enough turf wickets
- Number of tournaments
- Better exposure
- Sufficient fund
So, shall I conclude, Cricket is losing its grips in Orissa?
Some other day, I came across a beautiful cartoon of 
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7 comments:
Bhagaban Babu,
Just a general comment. I think you
should write articles with a positive veiwpoint. This will be a fresh change.
I know Orissa has lots of problems. But, by far it's biggest issue is negative publicity.
To explain this -: You might not know, but, Orissa was the best team in East Zone Ranji trophy this year.
One of our finds is Basant Mohanty who might play for Kolkata.
Cheers..
I'm the moderator of a yahoogroup called myodisa. You can consider joining it.
Dear Mr. Das,
Thank you very much for your thought-provoking comment. I don’t dispute your point that Orissa is the best team in East Zone. Everybody knows and appreciates the players. I will also feel pride if anyone from our team (the name you suggested) plays for Kolkata.
The intention of the story is straight and clear. There is nothing negativity in presentation. Being the concerned Oriya, you must be aware the problems that Orissa Cricket is facing today.
I just tried to present why we have failed to catch up with the recent trends in International Cricket. The East Zone victory is encouraging in the sense that our players beat all odds (the problems I have discussed in my story).
Once again thank you very much for inviting me join in your Yahoo Group. I am always open for discussion for the betterment of Orissa.
Bhagaban Babu,
It was just one spell by VRV singh which prevented Orissa from reaching the semi-finals of Ranji Trophy.
We had 1st inning lead against Punjab of about 100 runs. But, then VRV singh scored an Hatrick.
I think, team spirit was important. This was a big year for Orissa cricket. We moved from the Plate group to the elite group. Bengal has been relegated to the Plate group now.
This was inspite of the fact, Shib Sundar das had a bad average in his batting.
Dear Mr. Das,
Once again thank you very much. Yes, team spirit is important. I can say, it is indispensable for success. It was the team spirit that made us champion in East Zone.
In my article, I have tried to reveal the behind the scenes e.g. off-filed problems that affect Orissa Cricket.
Cheers!
Bhagaban
I agree with you Sir.Cricket is loosing its grip.some essential factors are insufficient funds and turf wickets.But apart from all these Orissa has performed very well this year.The star of this year for orissa has been basant mohanty picking 20 wickets in just 3 matches.So you could guess how much talented he is.
Due to his bad luck he suffered from an accident resulting in 3 broken fingers.Otherwise we all could have certainly seen him in IPL.But due to god's grace everything is fine now.He has been picked for india A team which is going to play 3 matches in israel.
He is also selected to attend the national cricket academy (NCA).
Dear Udayan,
I do acknowledge the talent of this player, who performed extremely well. I also admit that despite all odds, our players are trying their level best to compete others. Hence, it is high time for the OCA to focus development of the cricket in the state, so that we will see a good number of Oriyas in the national squad.
Good luck to Nirinja Behera and Orissa for 2008. Nero is just coming to the end of his first summer season in England with Highfield CC and has scored lots of runs and taken a good number of wickets. He's a nice young man as well, a credit to Orissa.
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