Pelting stones - Indian fans and hypocrisy

Yuvraj Singh

“What else should they have done to a person whose selfishness costed India a world cup” – Amalvarman

“These bunch of ba*****s who threw stones at yuvraj house should be arrested and should be beaten mercilessly. Bloody cowards can’t accept defeat gracefully…Yuvraj u will always be my hero….” – A.Akram

These are two contrasting comments I have picked up from IBNLive’s article on fans pelting stones at Yuvraj Singh’s Chandigarh residence after his horror show in the T20 World Cup finals. His innings of 11 runs in 21 balls seemed to halt India’s momentum as they looked to accelerate in the final overs; Yuvi neither scored quickly nor turned the strike over to Virat Kohli, who had already crossed fifty and was looking extremely dangerous. As a result of some brilliant death bowling by the Lankan bowlers, India managed to score just 19 runs off the last four overs. The target of 131 was chased down by Sri Lanka with 13 balls to spare, with wicketkeeper-batsman Kumar Sangakkara scoring a gritty 52 n.o. in his last T20 international.

More than Kohli’s or Sanga’s knocks, this match will be remembered for Yuvraj’s innings, which cost India the match and subsequently the T20 World Cup, too. Yuvraj did not have a great tournament until the final, bar a match-saving innings against the Aussies, and the final performance only made things worse for the southpaw. Some claim that he should never have made it to the World Cup squad in the first place, while some going to the extent that he should never have returned to the game after his recovery from cancer. A house with broken windows and full of stones from true lovers of the game is what he deserves, in their opinion. Jokes and memes with his pictures are doing the rounds, and fans have taken to the internet to launch tirades against the 32-year-old.

On the other hand, supporters believe that we should be grateful for all the memories that he has given us and not be too harsh on him. After all, he has suffered a lot in his life and also had major roles to play in our previous two World Cup victories. Supporting Yuvraj and recognizing his past contributions does seem rational, doesn’t it? Many experts and former cricketers, including the great Sachin Tendulkar, have gone on record to say that any player can have a bad day and there is no need to crucify the lad.

Coming to the main issue that I want to address through this piece, I’d like to ask you how the public would have reacted had a Ravindra Jadeja or a Rohit Sharma committed such a blunder in a WC final. Would they have been so sympathetic and stood by them? I’d say that majority of the fans would make even worse jokes than in Yuvraj’s case, and these players would have faced even more humiliation than they have already. Yuvraj has been cut some slack because he had been India’s best performer in the previous two World Cups.

That’s what most of sports followers in India really are: plastic fans. We stand by our players and even teams when they win; we change colours as soon as things turn upside down. Criticising them is fine, but we always tend to overdo it, completely unaware of the impact it has on the players. This tirade shall last for a week or so, and soon we’ll get a new topic to make fun of. The player can’t get over it as easily as we do, though. Imagine being faced with such humiliation and have stones pelted at your house from your own countrymen.

This hypocritical nature of ours isn’t limited to just cricket. It’s there in each and every sport. For example, we might come across the news of Somdev Devvarman, Indian male Tennis player, losing in the first round of the Australian Open and will say to ourselves, “Saale ko khelna hi nahi aata”. It has become so convenient. We go to such an extent of assuming that an athlete cannot play, oblivious to the fact that Devvarman happens to be a 3-time Asian Games medallist and a Commonwealth gold medallist.

We became die-hard fans of Mary Kom, 5-time boxing world champion, only after her spirited show in the London Olympics. Barring a few names, we don’t have a clue about our shuttlers, boxers, wrestlers and all Olympic-level athletes, something which is a massive achievement in itself. They may never have brought us medals at World Championships or Olympics, but still it doesn’t mean we leave them in the pits. With the facilities they have and the training and support they get, it is almost a miracle that they’re competing at the top level.

To conclude, I’d say that what you give is what you get. The meaning of the word ‘supporter’ is someone who gives support when needed and not being a plastic armchair fan who only knows how to make fun. If you can’t support your own sportsmen, you can’t expect them to win medals and trophies for you. They play to make us proud, and the least we can do is being there when they need us; instead, we abuse them and pelt their homes with stones.