Come home India, mama's waiting

Shane Warne went home to Mama Brigitte after he popped a pill. Neither Messrs Ali Bacher, Malcom Gray and Speed of the ICC nor the sugar daddies, who are funding world cricket, fathomed the emergence of Lady Brigitte as the newsmaker of the first week of the World Cup.
But there’s one thing about moms and their little boys. Sehwag’s mom peeps out of a cellphone in an ad asking her puttar to do wonders while Yuvi’s mommy dearest knows “he can do it�.We haven’t heard from Mrs Ganguly senior, Tendulkar senior or Dravid senior yet – but the boys in the South African jungle may well take this piece of advice after India’s loss to Australia.
Get back to your mums and their dosas, vada pavs and luchis. Seeing a soft drink commercial of one of the tournament’s key sponsors featuring Indian cricketers,where the boys manage to escape from a lion, I would have thought Sourav Ganguly’s team had learnt the law of the jungle – survival of the fittest. The way they all walked back to the pavilion, heads hanging in shame, it looked as if there was only way out for Team India. Head for the airport and present your return ticket. The World Cup is all about pride and power.
A time to wear your nationality on your sleeve. It’s a stage where all good men come to the aid of the party. Look at Lara and Jayasuriya, grizzly veterans who do not perform antics to sell products, but simply do a job they want to and are paid to do. The Indian team looks rudderless, defenceless and attackless. The captain looks like a tired general, his body language stiff and listless. When they left,we thought the men in blue were answering a clarion call for achieving greater glory.
The nation now feels that the only calls they answer are from sponsors and ad film directors. Cricket is last. As was evident from the way they played against Holland and Australia. The gap between Ganguly’s bat and pad is so wide that the next phase of the Metro Railway can well be planned in that gap. Hasn’t anyone told him to mind the gap? Sehwag, hyped up beyond imagination as India’s saviour, seems to be following his captain in the righthand mode. Md Kaif ’s parents were watching a movie when he played the innings of his life in the NatWest final. His batting at the Centurion should send his folks back the theatre.
Amidst the hype, hoopla, commercials and contracts , can we see some cricket and some glory? Yeh dil really maange pride. There are no sings yet.
THE LAST WORDS: When heroes are a letdown, the nation mourns. When cricketing heroes are a letdown, the nation switches off its TV sets. If that doesn’t come as a warning, for sponsors and cricketers, nothing will.