Over the Top: Jingoistic Advertisements Don’t Help Cricket

 MY READERS would be reading this piece a day after India has played Zimbabwe in Chennai. And chances are India would have beaten Zimbabwe and kept the World Cup campaign alive. Whatever be the result, the World Cup has left us with some real lessons. First, about the broadcast. The build-up advertising campaigns have been extremely jingoistic. You don’t need such hyper-nationalistic advertisements to tell a story.

Advertisements entail storytelling and not always do you need to tell a story by being over-the-top and jingoistic. Not always do you need to cater to the lowest common denominator. One school of thought will argue that all publicity is good publicity, and the fact that people are speaking about the campaign is proof that people are watching it. While it is indeed a fact, it is also about credibility and what you stand for. You don’t need to peddle things in poor taste to make the point. We have all seen how sport advertisements can stir a country and there are many ways to make the point.

Second, we need to be careful about social media. It is a platform that gives poison a voice and after one defeat, is in meltdown. All of a sudden, the players are national villains and they need to be castigated. Many will start calling them overhyped and overpaid and start comparing with other sports. The point is no cricketer has asked for this money, nor do they control the market. If the market decides to splurge on the sport and splurge on them, they have little or no role in it. While it is fair to be critical of them for the performance, it is totally unfair to bring money into the criticism.

What we need are balance and perspective. The problem with Indian cricket is that we operate in extremes. A World Cup win will make players demigods and a loss will make them national villains. In either case, we lose balance and perspective. The women’s team under Harmanpreet Kaur did not become the world’s best team after the World Cup win. They may have won the Cup but they aren’t the best team just yet. And the men’s team aren’t the worst after one loss either. We need a mature viewership for that’s what the sport needs going forward. To see immaturity after all these years is alarming and that’s what we need to guard against.

The other thing is we will soon see people starting to berate IPL. Such a thing is completely unwarranted and unnecessary. Whenever there is an issue with Indian cricket, IPL is the favorite whipping horse. And then when it comes to the tournament, the very same people who abuse it will be the first ones to watch every game and speak about it. It is a strange perversion. IPL has nothing to do with India’s World Cup performance. It is a standalone tournament and is the best franchise league in the world. It is a commercial success story and has given Indian cricket teeth and muscle. It has fulfilled aspirations and made cricket a coveted career option. To berate is unnecessary and wrong.

Coming back to the World Cup, the next few days could well decide the way ahead for Indian cricket. This is the time for the players to stay together as a flock and make it count. Back each other up and fight for a cause. They have their backs to the wall and there is no further room for failure. That’s when you dig deep. Find new resolve and new resilience. Show character and make things happen. It is in the nature of sport to ask you questions. That’s what sport has forever been about. It is on the performers to find answers and stay afloat. India needs answers and it is on the players now to find them.