Wake up India!

As we've been discussing in the last couple of days - great stuff from SJS (with a little help from his friends).

Best article I have read in the past five years. Excellent work SJS.

Wow, great article.

I've just re-read the thing again - really superb stuff. Love to read genuine, heart-felt responses to massive things like this.

adharcric said:

Best article I have read in the past five years. Excellent work SJS.

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Agreed. Best I've seen so far I think, great effort.

As I said in the staff forum, this article deserves to be printed in every single Indian newspaper.

Wonderful stuff here from SJS.

Sudeep said:

As I said in the staff forum, this article deserves to be printed in every single Indian newspaper.

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You're the man with the website.

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Yeh wonderful article, top work SJS. Has to be one of the best i have ever read.

Excellent article, really enjoyed reading it.

Good article SJS. I think the unfair, over the top enthusiasm will die quite a bit after sachin retires, because he is the main reason for the media crazy attention to cricket. Also when that happens players like Yuvraj, Dhoni etc will find out that they are at best average crickters on field and not that big of stars of field.

Its one of the best and most well written articles i have read in my whole life, great job SJS.


But i am sorry to say mate your article won't bring any change into the mindset of the blind Indian fans and administrators(but its a great effort nonetheless).

It's staggering how much knowledgeable posters and writers we have on this site, no way in five lifetimes could I write an article like that.

TBH a lot of people on here would give a lot of these so called "experts" and "pundits" on TV and press a good run for their money in a cricketing debate IMO and would do a great job if they were writing (like for a cricket magazine) or commentating.

I came on here at first thinking I knew heaps of cricket, since being on here, I found that hasn't bee the case.

Don't be so hard on yourself.

maxpower said:

Good article SJS. I think the unfair, over the top enthusiasm will die quite a bit after sachin retires, because he is the main reason for the media crazy attention to cricket. Also when that happens players like Yuvraj, Dhoni etc will find out that they are at best average crickters on field and not that big of stars of field.

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Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh are most certainly more than average.

Well done, but even though it was absolutely necessary, it did come off as a tad preachy or holier than thou by the time I was through. I think if you added just a little more balance, the message might have been even more effective. On the other hand, I can see why you took the scolding tone that you did, considering the extreme reactions of some Indians (albeit very much a minority, who go beyond verbal criticism ?), maybe this was something they needed to hear in as blunt a manner as possible. Again, I hope this isn't taken the wrong way, because it was a fine article.

Excellent article as usual from SJS. He is a real star of CW, obviously.



I guess one or two more points could have been added. The media is never tired of hyping the average Indians' so called "cricket knowledge". I can tell you without blinking an eyelid that it is absolute codswallop. Windies fans and English fans top the list of knowledgable cricket fans, for me. Next in line would be Aussies and Kiwis and Proteas and I suppose the best crowds in India can rank alongside them. That's about it. An average Indian fan is very good in knowing what color Sachin's favorite boots are and so on, but if you ask him, will probably find it very difficult trying to tell the difference between a leading edge and a top edge.


Also, the fact is that the Indian media is just USING cricket to sell themselves to the viewers. They hype the players and the fans go along as well, and then they put them down and the fans go along again. I am not exactly sure who started it, it is a bit of a chicken and egg situation there, but the fact is that Indian media is the BIGGEST enemy of Indian cricket, not the BCCI, not the players and certainly not the fans. They fan the fanatical worship and they fan the hatred too. Its "heads I win, tails you lose" for them and they are enjoying every bit of it.

Exceptional piece of writing.

SJS is allowed to be scolding, he's a grandfather.