Darker side of Cricket Cricket game is a craze among the young stars in India and there are many who
aspires to become Gavaskar, Tendulkar or Dhoni and spend considerable time of their youth to reach that stage. But how many can really reach there? Even if few are lucky enough to get selected for Ranji team or Indian team, how long can they survive to remain on top-form? Recently the news about the unfortunate death of Subhas Dixit – a former under-15 player, who was victim of whims and fancies of our selectors, was forced to end his life. Although the UPCA officials claiming that he lost his golden touch after a bright start on the game but the truth might be something else. Within same period there was another news about Maninder Singh – a former left arm spinner got heart, which was alleged to be attempt of suicide. Although his family strongly denied the report, but fact remains that he played for Indian team and was considered as natural heir of Bishen Singh Bedi, but sadly could not play up to the high expectations and soon his career ended. Although he tried to do a job of commentator, but how much he got success in this profession is anybody’s guess. There are quite a few others who had brief stint in Indian team and
remained in limelight for sometime and then soon
forgotten and dumped. Recent few examples are players like Parthiv Patel, Ashish Nehra, Mohammed Kaif, Suresh Raina and the list goes on. There are few sets of players like Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag, who remained in limelight due to their success for quite sometime and now they are in the making of forgotten hero. These players have enjoyed the stardom with large fan following and now suddenly they have to face new reality in the prime of their age. Why our talented players are not properly groomed and nurtured so that they become asset to our national team and not liability. What action the BCCI is taking to solve this malaise. Why can’t we have a system where players are groomed in such a way that their performance improves day by day? Why do we have to depend on only few quality players for long time? Why are we not able to find their replacement? Have we created a system, which is destroying our young talents instead of nurturing them? Answer lies with us, for which we must give a hard look.