New Zealand’s easy win in the second ODI has once again showed how this country, of low-profile sportspersons, keeps producing champion players. Rugby is the number one sport in the country, and the players are feted more than any other sportspersons. Yet, that isn’t a dampener for other sports as they go out and keep producing performances out of the ordinary, time and again. None of the non-rugby sports point a finger at rugby as getting all the publicity and accolades in the media and the public sphere and simply go about their business trying to get better at what they play.

If only that was the case in India. Here the moment another sport finds itself at the crossroads, the finger is pointed at cricket getting all the attention, corporate funds and crowd support. Even when it comes to National Awards, when a person doesn’t get an award he / she will go to court to complain about it and at the same time invariably put the blame at cricket’s door.