Shame of Cricket

The idea being floated by corporate moguls that cheerleaders add to the excitement of cricket is a failed attempt to fool gullible masses into believing that sleaze is kosher in a modern society. A match between two strong sides is already full of thrill and therefore hardly needs imported girls with bulging breasts and gyrating bellies to add anything to the popular game. A genuine fan has no interest and time for the sirens trying out all possible steps to seek attention.

Time was when Test matches and transistors were in vogue and cricket-obsessed people were seen with small sets glued to their ears like we see people with mobiles today. Only three decades ago, people in offices would form small groups during working hours around a secretly-brought in radio to listen to the ball-by-ball commentary of a five-day match. The madness would continue for full five days without anyone getting bored. Every day’s match would generate hot discussions at tea-stalls and restaurants in the evening, while predictions for the day would come from morning walkers and joggers in gardens. Every one used to be a cricket pundit in his own right and posters of top batsmen and bowlers were sold like hot cakes.

Then entered TV telecasting one dayers live. Large groups of people desperate not to miss those last two overs would bring the traffic in alleys to a halt. Every boundary or a catch would be followed by loud cheers and even the cops would prefer to ignore the commotion. Office goers would try to have a glimpse of their heroes in action during lunch hours. Bosses would stay home on the ‘final’ day and everyone knew why half of the staff called in sick on the day of the decisive match between Indian and Pakistan.

Then India started ‘shining’, thanks to the IT revolution, rising exports, never ending demand of Indian software engineers, booming businesses, strengthening rupee, eight per cent growth per annum and relative peace. Business magnates decided to make the most of it and commercialised the game. Twenty20 – a perfect recipe to mint millions in minutes – was introduced. TV rights sold for more than $900 million and players for eight teams, many imported from abroad, were auctioned. And the Indian Premier League managed to bring the world to India. And along with came cheerleaders in white go-go boots, yellow spangled short shorts and bikini tops. They danced their way onto the field, bursting right through Indian notion of decency.

Suddenly a poor man’s five-day unadultrated entertainment through his rubber band-strapped transistor became a rich man’s game involving funny money. The nine-to-five clerk in a government office can never imagine buying a Rs500 ticket to see the hip-swinging American-style razzmatazz.

Saffron politicians who can do anything to be in news have come down heavily on the ‘leggy’ foreign invasion. But their sudden love for decency has come as a surprise. Where was the Saffron brigade’s highest regard for women’s modesty when their trained zealots raped and paraded women naked, hacked them and video-taped the heinous crime in Surat, Gujarat, in 1992?

The advocates of cheerleaders would say morality, decency and obscenity are relative terms. There is no set definition of vulgarity but if Indian female icons are taken as yardsticks, there is no room for shabby display of flesh. It would be wise on the part of organisers to ensure that their foreign liabilities are not provocatively dressed. It has only given rise to lechery. Some spectators do ogle at half naked girls. Tabitha, from Uzbekistan, was shocked by the nature and magnitude of the comments people pass. “It’s been horrendous,” the cheerleader told Hindustan Times.

The Indian society does not accept objectionable dances by bar girls. Most of us are opposed to the Valentine’s Day antics. Cinemas showing X-rated films are attacked. Any public expression of physical intimacy is frowned upon. Beaches in India have clothed women unlike in the West.

Obscenity is not in India’s genes. That is why the cheerleaders parading in packed stadiums do not gel with Indian sensibilities, culture and ethos. They are wasting their time and organisers their millions.