The Indian Cricket fan: Wading through Troubled Waters
There have been numerous instances in history when the resilience of a passionate follower of Indian cricket has been put to the test. Those winless away tours and embarrassing losses are difficult to handle, but the real loyalists of Indian cricket have always believed in the 'light at the end of the tunnel' theory.
Somehow, things will change was the belief and more often than not, that belief paid off.
One of Indian cricket's low points in recent history was the first round exit in the 2007 World Cup. That cruel reality when Munaf Patel was dismissed by Tillakaratne Dilshan at Port of Spain to mark India's second loss of the tournament and their way out is bound to linger in the minds of every ardent Indian cricket supporter.
What transpired over the next twelve months did more than just healing the wounds sustained.
An ODI series win against South Africa in Ireland, a Test series win against England in England, the World T20 title in South Africa, ODI and Test series wins against Pakistan at home, a Test win against Australia at Perth and winning the triangular ODI series in Australia.
A remarkable sequence of achievements which left every Indian cricket fan fist-pumping. In hindsight, a similar chain of events is badly needed for the Indian cricket fan to redeem himself now.
A sequence of bitter events
Things have been going from bad to worse, dozens of off-field issues have marred the game and the sluggish start to the international cricket season in terms of results for India hasn't helped the mood either.
It all started with the IPL scandal verdict in July with Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings being banned from the competition for the next couple of years. Yes, that verdict was a reasonably strong statement made to clean up Indian cricket but was certainly nothing to boast about.
The authenticity of the competition was questioned in a number of aspects and the verdict proved that all was not well with the richest of the T20 domestic leagues. There have been cricket purists who've distanced themselves from the IPL since its evolution in 2008.
However, even for an Indian cricket fan who didn't have significant interests in the IPL, the first letter of the acronym meant that it was still going to be emotionally close.
That was just the start. The start of the 'Freedom Series' saw a few people taking 'freedom' to a different level. The freedom to throw bottles onto the playing field, the freedom to break into an office to protest and much more.
The repercussions have been severe. Blatantly put, India has been deemed unsafe for an ICC elite panel umpire to officiate and unsafe for a couple of commentators purely because of their nationality.
Indian umpiring got a facelift earlier this year when S Ravi was promoted to the ICC Elite Panel of umpires, but another Indian umpire has probably done enough to take the sheen off the community.
Vineet Kulkarni has had a torrid time, probably rougher than what Bruce Oxenford experienced in the 2007/08 season. As much as India takes pride in its cricketers, it does take pride in its journalists too. There have been a few punches coming from these sectors which the Indian cricket fan has had to endure.
Amit Mishra has been charged with assault on a woman recently. At the end of the day, Mishra could come out clean but it certainly leaves a bad taste in the mouth at least momentarily.
None of the Bangladeshi supporters might want to speak about Shahadat Hossain now.
Moving onto the journalists part. Sharda Ugra, senior editor at ESPNcricinfo suggests that it's time Chennai and Mumbai are taken off the international cricket calendar. It would be hard to argue against her points in the article, provided you put brain over emotions.
It hasn't been smooth sailing for arguably the voice of Indian cricket either - Harsha Bhogle: a man who always puts an intuitive clever thought over an emotional statement. But even Harsha was disturbed with some of the rude comments he got from his haters which was evident in his recent Twitter and Facebook feeds.
This is a unique and an uncomfortable position to be in for Indian cricket. The Indian team's recent results haven't been pleasing and the incidents at Cuttack and the BCCI office in Mumbai haven't shown the Indian public in a good light either.
That makes this a classic case of the team consoling its fans and vice versa; both of those are going to have a complementary effect. It's time the Indian public showed why they can be one of the best supporters of the game worldwide and also time the Indian cricket team showed what they are capable of through stellar performances.
One is bound to have a rub-off effect on the other. Until that happens, it's the difficult 'swim against the tide' time for every Indian cricket fan in troubled waters.