I recently read a blog post by someone who believes that other sports in India aren't getting the same recognition and appreciation despite various sports person achieving great heights in their field of sport.
I, for one, am fed of these comparisons where people think that Indian cricket got this reputation and fan following over night. Indian Cricket team also has struggled similarly like most of the sports around India and probably more than a few sports too.
Indian team won their first test match at home in 1952 and 1967 overseas in New Zealand. Indian team was not a great test match team till they started competing and winning since Ganguly lead the team. Before that India was a less than an average test match side. Though, they were great at home but never outside of their own turf.
Yes, India was good One Day side and they proved their metal for the first time with 1983 world cup win. But that was not it, Indian team retained the great form and won the Prudential Cup, involving all the test playing nations in the year 1985. These victories out side of India was responsible for creating the buzz among the people at home.
Decline in India's performance in Hockey at this particular time also lead to the growth of Cricket's popularity. This was also the time when cricket started attracting glamour and investors started pouring money in to the sport. The balance then started to shift towards Cricket and lack of success in other sports was a major contributor.
From then on, Indian cricket team hasn't been out of the picture. They have been consistent across ODI's, however, test cricket still requires a lot of improvement.
And we as Indians have accepted all who have risen to glory in their own field of sport. Saina Nehwal to Gopichand, Peas - Bhupati to Sania, Vijendar - Sangram - Yogeshwar Dutt - Sushil Kumar, Deepika Kumari et.al.
Its not that we don't appericiate efforts sports person make in other fields but they would have to struggle a lot and really a lot, if they want to compare themselves to the status of Cricket in India.
I, for one, am fed of these comparisons where people think that Indian cricket got this reputation and fan following over night. Indian Cricket team also has struggled similarly like most of the sports around India and probably more than a few sports too.
Indian team won their first test match at home in 1952 and 1967 overseas in New Zealand. Indian team was not a great test match team till they started competing and winning since Ganguly lead the team. Before that India was a less than an average test match side. Though, they were great at home but never outside of their own turf.
Yes, India was good One Day side and they proved their metal for the first time with 1983 world cup win. But that was not it, Indian team retained the great form and won the Prudential Cup, involving all the test playing nations in the year 1985. These victories out side of India was responsible for creating the buzz among the people at home.
Decline in India's performance in Hockey at this particular time also lead to the growth of Cricket's popularity. This was also the time when cricket started attracting glamour and investors started pouring money in to the sport. The balance then started to shift towards Cricket and lack of success in other sports was a major contributor.
From then on, Indian cricket team hasn't been out of the picture. They have been consistent across ODI's, however, test cricket still requires a lot of improvement.
And we as Indians have accepted all who have risen to glory in their own field of sport. Saina Nehwal to Gopichand, Peas - Bhupati to Sania, Vijendar - Sangram - Yogeshwar Dutt - Sushil Kumar, Deepika Kumari et.al.
Its not that we don't appericiate efforts sports person make in other fields but they would have to struggle a lot and really a lot, if they want to compare themselves to the status of Cricket in India.
