Gods or demons – the social media reality for India’s cricketers

Team India in Wankhede, IND vs NZ, 3rd Test (Image: BCCI)

The negativity surrounding the 3-0 whitewash is still very real. All of a sudden, everything is rotten about Indian cricket. The players are all hopeless, no one has any commitment, no one cares, no one hurts and so on. Make no mistake, 0-3 hurts. And it should. India were bad, and that’s the truth. But India aren’t the first fancied team to lose in sport, and surely will not be the last.

Brazil lost 1-7 at home in a football World Cup semi-final. Football didn’t grind to a halt in Brazil as a result. Lionel Messi decided to retire after failing multiple times. Then, he picked himself up and came back to win the World Cup in 2022. Sport always gives you a second chance, and that’s what makes it what it is. The over-the-top reactions, that everything has come to an end, are symptomatic of the social-media generation. Either the players are Gods or they are demons. They can’t be mortal and make mistakes, for that doesn’t make for a nice headline.

Words like great, greatest, GOAT, or pathetic, worst and incompetent are bandied around with regularity. Sensationism sells, and that has become the order of the day. Ride the negative wave and get some social-media brownie points. And the moment things turn, it will go to the other extreme with songs of praise.  In all of this,, perspective is lost.

 

I have read many posts which say Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma should retire. The simple question is: who are we to tell someone, anyone, to retire? If they aren’t good enough, let the selectors drop them. That’s why they have been appointed and paid. If they are picking someone unworthy, it’s their fault and not that of the player being selected.

How often do you hear a journalist or politician, or lawyer or movie star being asked to  retire? I might not like someone’s movies. I have the freedom to not watch them. But surely, I don’t have the right to say he or she should retire. It is an entirely personal call, and if Kohli or Rohit aren’t good enough and yet putting themselves up for selection, let the selectors draw the line and bench them.

My problem with social-media fandom is this extreme behaviour. In all the clutter, you need to be extreme to get noticed. A sensational over-the-top comment has more chance of getting amplified and becoming viral. So what if it’s stupid? The numbers justify the post, and that’s where credibility is compromised.

The truth is India weren’t good enough against spin. And we need to prepare good batting decks for our players to regain confidence in home conditions. On good batting decks, the skill sets of India’s spinners – R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav – come into play, and that’s when India are at their best.

In Australia, however, things will be different. It will be a tough series, and India’s batters will have to combat both pace and bounce. Can Kohli and Rohit do it, with Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal for company, not to forget KL Rahul? It is hard, yes, but not impossible. To say it will end 0-5 is premature and sensationalist. The story after the 36 all out in Adelaide (2020) is evidence of that.