The right kind of sportsmanship

Fans celebrate the Indian team’s victory over New Zealand in the first semi-final match of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, in Nagpur, on November 15. Representation pic/PTI

I don't watch cricket matches, and never have, but a recent series of matches playing out in Gujarat and Maharashtra caught my eye for all the right reasons not too long ago. I was pleased that the bigger matches were taking place in Gujarat, given how that state has always given India the healthiest, most athletic men and women.

I'm pretty sure the Olympic Games would be a lot poorer for everyone if there were no athletes from Gujarat, so the idea of hosting the biggest matches there made perfect sense to me. There were a few odd questions about dubious ticket sales making the rounds, but I dismissed them without a thought because Gujarat is also India's most trustworthy state. I was sure everything happening at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad was above board.

To get back to what caught my eye, however, there were two specific instances: The first involved a supporter of the Pakistani cricket team who was told, quite rightly, that he couldn't cheer for his team. I don't know if he was arrested for this because it took place in Gujarat, after all, but I hope he was let go after a lecture or two. I applauded the policeman tasked with making sure this unwritten rule was adhered to, because he effectively nipped this obnoxious habit in the bud. If a foreign team plays in India, I believe it is only right that their supporters cheer for India alone, because that is what good guests are supposed to do. It's why fans of the Indian cricket team always cheer for England when they visit the UK, or Australia when they fly down under for a match. There may be no way of corroborating this, but I have a feeling it's true, which is why I'm going to stick to that theory.

It's also important for us all to buy into the idea that India's athletes are the best in the world. If they don't win too many medals, it's not because they can't compete with sportspeople from other nations, or because our government spends more on election rallies than sporting facilities, but because our neighbouring countries probably do everything in their power to prevent our men and women from winning. This is why I always dismiss naysayers who wonder why a country of over one billion people has never won more than ten gold medals in Olympic history. It's jealousy, I point out, and only a matter of time. We will soon have more Olympic golds than we know what to do with.

The second incident involving cricket had something to do with a stuffed tiger. Apparently, it belonged to a supporter from Bangladesh who had a habit of carrying it to games around the world whenever his country's team was playing. His tiger's journey ended in Pune when supporters wearing Indian team colours supposedly tore it apart.

Gujarat and Pune have shown us all a path forward, a shining future where only India can be celebrated, and where teams from other countries will have to check their egos at the airport before stepping across our borders. I believe we should go a step further and prevent supporters of foreign teams from coming in, thereby ensuring that all sporting events offer our athletes and players the right kind of support. This may seem like cheap acts of jingoism to some, but this is a new India we are discussing, one that isn't afraid to wear its insecurities on tri-coloured sleeves.

What happened in Gujarat and Pune upset a lot of people online, with many going on and on about the spirit of sportsmanship. I believe these are misguided comments that fail to understand why those fans acted the way they did. We are at a stage in our country's history where we have finally learned the importance of optics, and of shouting the loudest. If we deny foreigners the right to support their teams, everyone watching will assume that our team is the most popular. If we scream about something long enough, even if it isn't true, everyone watching will assume it is. The power of public relations.

These valuable lessons have been taught to us by politicians currently in power. They may not be educated, qualified, intelligent, civil, or interested in our well-being. They scream a lot though, which is all that seems to matter. The Indian team may lose some matches, but nothing can ever stop us from believing it has won.

When he isn't ranting about all things Mumbai, Lindsay Pereira can be almost sweet. He tweets @lindsaypereira

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