My Take- Saviour 4 Indian Cricket

The biggest scandal of cricket in recent times has been all over newsprint space and clogging our news channel airwaves [nationally as well as internationally]. It started with one man Lalit k Modi’s hubris and ensuing fall from grace. Modi as is the case with all his predecessors who thought that they are the lords and kings and god’s greatest gift to the world, got delusional with feeling of invincibility. That ultimately lead to a domino effect, which has brought his world crashing down in a heap. In the bargain a lot of skeletons have popped out of the cupboard, and has put a lot of high and mighty in a piquant situation. It has also brought a huge amount of disrepute to Indian cricket.

You don’t throw the baby out with bath water,right? although tainted, mauled and reputation sullied by all the slander IPL still continues a great product. Yes there are few, well a lot of things about it which need a complete overhaul, but still it’s not beyond repair.

What we really need is a revolutionary change at the top, not some cough syrup waala who will give “Khasi ki Chutti." The public of India is fed up of the pawar moves inside the corridors of a coterie called BCCI. Our “administrators” have to realize that they can’t be so callous to us anymore. You have played enough havoc with our general politics, but this game is too dear to us and we are too sentimentally attached to it. Enough is enough. If they have to salvage the situation the time to act is now & decisively so.

For me there is only one name which seems to be perfectly suited to be the this beast of burden, the messiah of masses, the real prodigal son, the saviour of souls, the incorruptible, untarnished, humility exemplified. Ladies and gentleman I present to you, the one and only.

JOGINDER SHARMA

Joginder Sharma has a few things in common with Kapil Dev. He plays for Haryana, can give the ball a mighty thwack and has the surprise factor with his nippy medium pace. Most importantly, he has the convention-defying streak that Kapil displayed everytime he played. Joginder bowls with a mixed action and can trouble the best with his lively seam bowling - like he did to Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Yuvraj Singh while playing for India A against India Seniors before the Australia series. With two successive hundreds and a ten-wicket haul at the start of the 2004-05 Ranji Trophy season, he won himself a place in India's one-day squad for the tour to Bangladesh. He was back to the grind of domestic cricket after that series but outstanding performances in the next two years won him a spot in the squad for the home series against West Indies in early 2007. Joginder will perhaps always be remembered as the bowler who dismissed Misbah-ul-Haq in the final of the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 to cap mad scenes in Johannesburg. Sharma, India's least likely bowling hero, had bowled three outstanding overs for 13 runs, taking one wicket, but it was that last dismissal that turned him into a cult hero. He has not played another game for India since. This in itself is travesty unparalleled in the annals of history

He has all the requisite qualities that are needed to be the true great hero, who can eventually bring credibility back to Indian cricket. The reasons for this premise are as follows.

1. He is a modern day great.
2. He was the architect of India’s greatest cricket triumph after the prudential world cup.
3. He is modest to a fault,his 1st catch (if you remember his first significant contribution was Hodge c J Sharma b Pathan) if u play the replay, nobody had even realized what had happened. No showboating, no over the top celebrations, just self effacing satisfaction.
4. If I may- I want to quote Maslow’s hierarchy of need here. For me he is one of the few amongst us who has attained the level of self-actualization. This means he is way above things like-money, fame, sexual intimacy etc.
5. He is the modern day Gandhi as even after being showered by crores of gifts and every material thing at his disposal he chose to travel by train for a Ranji trophy match.Although he was robbed on the train but the calm on his face was one of –equanimity (ah! Swami Vivekananda reprise).
6. As for glamour, which Modi used to bring to the table, our Jogi is a dancer of par excel lance (reference- Chennai super kings video) but he chooses to be a dour self.
7. Above all he is a cricketer which every kid can look up to, ok not every body might have the talent to match up to him, but we can aspire [keep on trying Sachin-u will be there].
8. Above all he is said to have refused the offer of building his bronze gilded statue by Govt. of Haryana. [Govt. Of Haryana has officially denied these claims-I think they are merely trying to hide their failure], tha's austerity exemlified.

If I continue to list down his qualities given my penchant for prolixity I will end up rivaling an epic which will compete for honors in terms of length with Ramayana & Mahabharata.

He is the one and only who can emancipate us from this mess we have got ourselves into. And we should consider ourselves extremely fortunate to live in the times when a great man like him adorned the Indian blue, I salute you Jogi.

It’s time to bring back our hero [ha ha-I know it’s a tag line of a super flop]. Dharti ka lal udhaar karo!

Go Go Modi, Jai ho! Jai ho! Jogi.