RR Corner: from sombre to humour!: Cricket – A Uniting Passion

By Ritesh(R) Chugh and Ripan(R) Sethi

There are a few things that Indians have embraced quite well from the British Raj, but one that clearly stands out is cricket. It is the only religion (as a large population prefers to call it) that unites the world’s largest democracy. India also happens to be uniquely diverse in a number of areas such as language, customs and creeds. While travelling in India, the dialect and the food may keep changing every few hundred kilometres but the sight of children playing cricket on the streets is constant.

With so much love for the game, cricket stars are treated like heroes, which often triggers an unwarranted comparison with peers from its poor cousin fraternity – Hockey. Hockey may technically deserve more respect due to its national sport status, but constantly fails to grab attention anywhere close to cricket. This in itself speaks for the popularity and euphoria for cricket. Besides providing entertainment, cricket also provides a feeling of pride and patriotism. However, it is not just India that cricket unites. Cricket unites lovers of the sport globally or at least in the Commonwealth countries.

With the large influx of Subcontinent communities in Australia, the passion for cricket is on the rise. A trip to the many sporting ovals on any weekend demonstrates the excitement of cricket down under as players of different age groups show their loyalty to the game. For all we know, cricket may sometime soon give the likes of Australian Footy a good run for its money as the passion for cricket grows. The tremendous growth of the Big Bash tournament is a good example. A massive sprawl of local cricket clubs in various parts of Melbournecan already be seen, which is a testimony to the Subcontinent communities’ appetite for the sport. To ride the wave, Melbourne Renegades launched the Champions League Cricket tournament to engage upcoming talent from different Subcontinent communities. It certainly comes across as a great initiative to further strengthen Australia’s multicultural fabric and build relationships, in addition to creating a pathway for potential local players to play first class cricket.

Now let’s ignore the passion for cricket for a moment and focus on nurturing young cricketers. As a parent, some of you might wonder why to encourage cricket as a sport. There are numerous reasons to list but some are that cricket develops physical, mental, social and team working skills. Hence, instilling the value of cricket and encouraging young players to take up cricket is vital. RR would definitely like to see players from the Indian community taking centre stage in the Australian cricket pitch and donning the baggy green. In the interim, keep playing cricket as it provides a fun element too!