IPL 2014: Kieron Pollard-Mitchell Starc’s act killed many a sports romantic

Two Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) players, since their return to India, have been at the receiving end of contrasting receptions. One was Dale Steyn’s hug to AB de Villiers after the South African fast bowler was plundered for 24 runs in the penultimate over of the match; another was Kieron Pollard’s not –so-warm throw of the bat at Mitchell Starc. If, as Sarang Bhalerao put it, the AB de Villiers-Dale Steyn hug romanticised sports, did the Pollard-Starc act kill all that? In aggression and passion, are players losing sight of the very thin line that takes them overboard?

This isn’t the first time that such an act has happened in cricket. Go back to history and images of Javed Miandad stretching his arm to hit Dennis Lillee with the bat flash in the mind; so does the images of Michael Holding kicking the stumps and Inzamam-ul-Haq warning a spectator with his bat for calling him ‘aaloo’.

Sports other than cricket have witnessed great players get into ugly confrontation be it John McEnroe, Zinadine Zidane, Mike Tyson, or Diego Maradona, but it looks uglier in a sport that takes pride in being associated with the ‘gentlemen’. Unlike other sports, cricket has a much stronger integration of ‘spirit’ in its play.

In a hasty quest for victory, often the real reason for playing sports is lost. There are millions of people interested in spending their time and money watching 22 random unknown people play and fill their pockets. There is an overload of emotions and opinions. If sports was simply about winning, the stakeholders wouldn’t have been more than just the players and the management. The consequence of the match is simply a parcel of a much larger cause. I had stated this earlier, but I’ll do it again that sportsmen are ambassadors, carrying the hope of spreading joy where hate and misery thrives. And that is what differentiates a hero from merely a winner. True champions belong to the former class.

Fifteen years back, I would imitate for no reason, Tendulkar’s century celebration. Holding an invisible helmet in one hand and a bat in another, I would look heavenwards. Today I see children leave out a chain of expletives after taking a wicket. This isn’t exactly a good sign and neither was Pollard and Starc’s behaviour in the heat of the moment. The act wasn’t worthy of representational sportsmanship. It killed the very nature of the sport and with it killed many a sports romantic at heart.