Indian Cricket = English Football

The more I think of Indian Cricket and English Football, the more striking and conspicuous their similarities seem. They cannot be compared vis-a-vis as a sport. But the various aspects and features of the sport bear many parallels. They are both the sports of the masses and the stakes are BIG.

When I say English football, it encompasses both the league and the national team. Here goes.

Firstly the sports themselves. They appeal to the masses. The transcend all logic and rationale. They fire up emotions and bring out the worse in the people both in victory and defeat. For English football it was the hooliganism and for Indian cricket it is the farce we are presiding over since the World Cup.

The sporting bodies, the FA and BCCI. They always come under immense flak all the time. Especially given the amount of money involved in the game. Money seemed the only agenda on the BCCI's list. Be it rampant commercialisation or the obscene number of games being played at obscure venues around the world. For English football, the money factor is at the league level. The amount of money being bandied around amongst the top 4 in the Premier League is mind boggling. Given the current situation the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.

Also the games are not very well run. Indian cricket is a mess right from top to bottom, international and domestic. English football seems to be stuck in committee reports which recommend a lot but implement little. The bungs enquiry, the FA restructuring, distribution of television money, lack of retrospective punishment on divers, etc. A lot of it falls short of expectations.

The way they choose coaches. India or England, it was a total farce. Steve Mclaren or Greg Chappell, they were both chosen amid a lot of hype and hoopla. Also the opposition to foreign coaches in both nations is strikingly similar and also borders on xenophobia at times.

Celebrity culture, the games are full of prima donnas. Games become soap operas in the British tabloids and bytes hungry Indian news channels. Both set of players suffer from a lack of private life. Whether it is the likes of The Sun camped outside a footballers house or an Aaj Tak asking the most banal of questions from a cricketer. Heroes one day and villains another. The transition doesn't take long. It takes only a victory or defeat.

The England national team and Indian cricket team seem to be more a collection of talented individuals rather than a team. And coach after coach seems to fail to solve the most basic of problems. Indian crickets opening slot and English footballs central midfield conundrum. All the players are greats in their own right. Everyone has gone through moments of greatness at an individual level. Steven Gerrard's one man shows in Europe for Liverpool, Tendulkar's mountain of runs, Michael Owen's wonder goal as a teenager, Anil Kumble's perfect 10 vs Pakistan, etc. But as a team, a collective failure. They do not have any trophy or silverware of worth to show. They went missing when the going got tough, in the World Cups. Both the so-called Golden Generations have failed to deliver.

Greg Chappell talked of a so-called senior players 'mafia' trying to influence team tactics and strategy. There was talk of Sven Goran Ericsson also caving to the senior cartel amongst the English team with regards to the formation. And both these cartels contained of superstars in their own rights.

Then the fans themselves. They expect the players to be supermen. Who will turn up day in and out and satisfy their appetite for a gladiator like sporting fight. Expect their teams to win just because of the fact that they possess good players. We cannot digest their failure too easily either.

Also the fans think that the players are overpaid both in football and cricket. The BCCI has put down restrictions on the number of endorsements a player can have. There is talk of introducing salary caps in European football, which frankly I think will not happen.

The talent crunch is also obvious. Indian crickets spin cupboard seems bare. So does the English strikers cupboard. Who after Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman and after Gerrard, Lampard, Owen. Also the excess of talent in some areas. The amount of central midfielders England had a point. And the amount of left arm seamers in India started throwing up lately.

Also home grown talent seems to the hindered. For Indian cricket, due to the shambolic domestic scenario and in England due to the influx of talented foreigners into the league amongst one of the many factors.

The more I think, the more blurred the lines between the two become. And it seems that not a lot is going to change in the short term. Both Indian Cricket and England Football are in for a rude shock and I don't think everyone is braced for it.