Cricket has been labelled a gentleman’s game but for me, more importantly it is a game of role models. I can’t help still thinking of it as that game, the spirit of which was epitomized by the likes of Colin Cowdrey, Gary Sobers and GR Vishwanath.
The passion to come out on the winning side is important but this should be done the right way. This is what Rahul Dravid, the cricketing gentleman of our times calls inner steel. This cannot be taught like technique, it has to be derived from the value systems and the inner steel within every individual cricketer. Taking nothing away from the pressure of competitive cricket today, I still believe that it is possible to play with grace, mutual appreciation and fairness.
As role models, we’re always conscious of how our actions and behaviours are perceived. On a platform that is as big and visible as international sport, every sportsperson needs to be aware of the impact his actions have on millions of youngsters across the world and shape them accordingly. It was his far-sightedness that made Colin Cowdrey point out many years ago that one of the reasons cricket was losing popularity was because parents were reluctant to let their kids emulate players who could not impart the right lessons.
It is an interesting perspective for me. Apart from being a cricketer, I am a father of two sons and I completely relate to the off-field responsibility of being a role model for my sons when they were in their formative years. Although I’ve always enjoyed being a bit of a free-spirited cricketer in my days, it always came with complete awareness of the privilege of playing for my country and the example I wanted to set for my children. I wanted every word, action and response of mine to be consistent with the values I wanted them to be brought up with.
On the other side as well, I’m certain that no cricketer wants to look back at his career and discover that he’s better remembered by sports fans for bad behaviour which overshadowed great skill. What has happened unfortunately over the past decade is that poor sportsmanship has often received more publicity and media glare resulting in a negative impact on impressionable kids. This trickles down to cricket at the grassroots, where even school teams have the ‘bully’ with a misplaced sense of aggression learnt from their idols. It is not that words never were exchanged in cricket — in fact, word games have been as much a part of the legacy of this game as the cover drive. But the subtleties are lost, and there’s a whole deal of overt body language that feels out of place in a cricket ground.
However, I do see a silver lining - the proliferation of league formats into cricket. When international rivals share a dressing room, it is unlikely that they don’t get inspired by one another. When a batsman who’s been your side’s most precious asset in one form of the game takes you to the cleaners in another, you are less eager to shoot your mouth off at him. Some of the best students of the game are the ones who have maintained a healthy respect and an excellent relationship with their peers across teams, and this camaraderie allows them to draw from the collective wisdom and experience of so many talented cricketers.
I speak not only as a cricketer but also as a follower of the game when I say that any sportsperson’s sense of achievement would have to be derived not just from statistics and records, but from what they have achieved, learnt and how many of the next generation looked at them as role model. Cherish the game Gentlemen, because you are a role model.
Courtesy: P&G