The T20 format seems to be here to stay with people waxing eloquent about it, left, right and center, but it is really such a nice thing after all? The T20 series has brought about a lot of changes in attitude, outlook and has evinced mixed reasons for all sorts of reasons. It is said that controversy sells and T20 proves that right, several times over. Firstly, for the harried Indian Cricket Team which was copping flak from all quarters and reeling under the sudden announcement of relinquishment of captaincy by Rahul Dravid, the winning of the T20 championship was just what the doctor ordered (or was it doctored ??? my uncle Shri Raghunath certainly feels so, but I don’t take any stance on that!) Whatever it was, the team is now reaping accolades and riches, but not everyone is happy for the men in Blue. For one, the hockey players are feeling very blue (or is it green, with jealousy?) that they are not paid as highly for their achievements as their cricketing counterparts. Lets dissect their claims, remove all traces of political bullshit and then reexamine their claims.

When Kapil’s Devils won the 1983 world cup, were they reaping in riches? Did they have fancy pay-packets? Did they have endorsements than ran into crores (or even into thousands, keeping in mind the extremely high value of the rupee back then) No. What they did though was to set the ball rolling. They made people want to watch Indian cricket. They made people feel that it was worth spending one’s hard earned money on a ticket for a match between India and any other country. Since then, though they have had their ups and downs, they have delivered their goods. It’s no mean feat to figure in the Finals of the World Cup (the previous to the last time around) and figure in the finals of several prestigious multinational cricket series and even managing to win many of them. BCCI is not the richest board in the world by chance. It is the players who have made their board rich and so, it is perfectly acceptable for the players on their part to expect a share of the booty. What about the hockey players? For one, the selection policy of the Hockey team is a sad joke. Who plays and who doesn’t is often decided by innocuous and silly factors like what KPS Gill has had for breakfast!!!!! (Okay, I may be exaggerating things a bit here, but it’s only the slightest bit though!!!) What kind of money do the Hockey players bring in? Nothing worth noting. So, why do they need to get paid more? Just because the game is the national game and it was once popular in India? And why was it popular once in India? Because people were good at it, for God’s sake! If the cricketers are more famous than the Hockey players, it’s just because they play better and have achieved a lot more. You might say that the hockey players too will perform better if more money is pumped into the sport. Bullshit. Nobody pumped in big bucks to get Indian Cricket to where it is. It is the efforts of people like Kapil Dev and his team of silent heroes who brought about such a transformation. Now, cricket is a self sustaining cash-cow. You cannot pump money into a dead donkey and turn it into a lion. If the Hockey players want more attention, more endorsements and more money, let them start playing out of their skins. Let them start to bring home the cups. And then, when they start raking in the moolah for their Federation, let them start asking about higher pay packets. Till then, if they keep protesting, they will be seen as miserable cry-babies and nothing more. I heard that a bunch of them went on a hunger-strike. I wish they had spent the same time in hard training. If they had, they might have had the results to show by the next outing of theirs, but it is not performance that they seem to be interested in. It’s just the money. Bah!