As a hardcore Indian cricket fan, imagine you've decided to enter solitary confinement after Sunday's loss. While sleeping in your dark, gloomy and isolated enclosure, you dream of Rohit Sharma walking into your room. Will you run to hug him tight or be dumbstruck at first sight? After the long and emotional hug, what if he asks, "Are you okay?" What would be your answer as a fan?
India has more than a billion cricket fans, with a significant portion being extreme ones, whose dejection level is comparable to a personal loss. They find themselves in a state of mind where they hate anything and everything that comes their way because their mind, body, and soul refuses to accept what just happened on that Sunday evening. For them, Indian cricket is not just any sport where "haar jeet toh lagi rehti hai"; it literally runs in their veins since the 1996 World Cup (atleast), marking their first experience of a heartbreak. Cricket for them is their FIRST LOVE "aur pehla pyaar kya hota hai, woh mujhse pucho."
But why is this heartbreak more severe than the others we've experienced (aplenty) in the last few decades? In all the past World Cups India didn't win, either we weren't the most deserving or not close enough to winning the Cup. But this time, we checked both these boxes LIKE A BOSS. But sports and largely cricket goes beyond the laws of Karma. It doesn't guarantee glory, no matter how robust the Indian cricket ecosystem is. A nation with 38 Ranji Teams across the states playing more than 2000 matches sparring into 4000 plus match days in a year, aside from the glorious IPL that has taken the world by storm. Tens of thousands of professional cricketers compete their hearts out, aiming to advance and achieve their ultimate dream of playing for Team India one day. After all this, a squad of 14 players is chosen to play in the Blue Jersey, aiming to win the World, under the expectation of a billion.
The state of Indian Cricket is such that it can create several parallel teams of equal caliber that can defeat any nation on a given day. Yet, this does not guarantee success on D Day, as happened on November 19th, 2023. So where do the fans go from here? How do they find solace?
As the dream continues in the solitary confinement, Rohit Sharma asks if you're okay, and the fan replies, "No, I'm not!" He further asks, "Okay, do you also regret being a hardcore fan?" with his typical cheeky smile, as the speechless fan hugs him back till he opens his eyes.
Hence, the billion-dollar question before us today: do we as hardcore Indian cricket fans, regret being one? If the answer is NO, we apparently know where we need to go.
