Understand their hardships!

Cricket today is not a sport Itrsquos a circus The fans clap the owners count the sponsors grinmdashand the players bleed T20 is sold as fireworks Pretty in the night sky gone by morning Behind the sparkle lies a meat grinder Every ball is life or death One mistake and yoursquore trendingmdashusually for the wrong reasons Cheers today abuses tomorrow Thatrsquos the dealPhysically itrsquos torture Jet lag midnight matches sponsor dinners selfies with strangers A physio pokes your hamstring and declares you fit Fit for what To break down again next weekThe mind takes the bigger beating Imagine performing at peak every single night Confidence becomes a onenight stand mdash here today gone tomorrow Youngsters think they are immortal until the body sends a bill Then the smile fades the eyes droop and even Captain Cool looks like a tired uncle at a weddingFor the fan though itrsquos a carnival The IPL is less cricket and more of Bollywood nights Cheerleaders gossip and men in designer shades who come to be spotted on TV rather than watch a yorker bend the laws of physics The BCCI loves it TRPs rise coffers swell the ecosystem thrives mdash from chaiwallahs to CEOs Everyone wins Except the man in padsThe magnets are the stars mdash Rohit Sharma Virat Kohli Jasprit Bumrah Without them this circus is just a cheap mela Why kill the goose that lays the golden egg But the Board doesnrsquot see it They win IPL seasons bilateral scrapsmdashand lose ICC trophies A nation starves for glory while its best players limp into finals like wounded soldiersSolution I would stop flogging the icons Donrsquot make them chase leather like rookies Nobody buys a ticket to see Kohli dive at square leg They come for a cover drive Let substitutes do the fielding in domestic cricket and remember IPL is domestic cricket Protect the stars stretch their careers However radical all this may sound it is no rocket science merely common senseAnd please stop romanticising fielding Diving catches look good in replays They also send men into surgery In our day a centurion could skip fielding Bowlers napped batsmen dozed The game went on Today Blink once and yoursquore trolled for lack of commitment Commitment to what Early retirementT20 here should have specialist fielders Six or seven of them Let the stars save their bodies for batting and bowling Even in domestic cricket internationals should play without breaking their backs Youngsters will learn seniors will last and the game will gainThe people in the corridors of power should think about thisAnd donrsquot forget Tests That is cricket Full stop T20 fame fades in a week Test cricket builds legends for life Patience technique character mdash you canrsquot fake it Those who mock Tests donrsquot have the stomach to play themWe had Tests ODIs Ranji Trophy Irani Cup Duleep Trophy Deodhar Trophy Wills Trophy Hard cricket no glamour We travelled by train carried our own kits went home quietly No hashtags no influencer deals I remember Pankaj Tripathi the fine actor who played PR Man Singh in 83 once saying on a train ldquoPeople mistake being talked about for being capablerdquo Today too many players are more influencers than cricketers Fame without substance Noise without musicBumrah faced a storm for missing the recent Oval Test He hasnrsquot told his side of the story The BCCI which controls when and where players can speak must give him that chance Till then the grind continues Indiarsquos best bowlers batsmen and rsquokeepers flogged like racehorses patched up like machinesClive Lloyd the man who captained the West Indies through more cricket than most mortals can imagine said after Indiarsquos 04 loss in the 2011 Test series in England ldquoEven cars break downrdquoTreat players like machines and theyrsquoll shatter Protect them and the game survives Itrsquos as simple as that Forget this and cricket will burn its brightest stars before their light can even reach the next generationWe who played long before big bucks arrived had a different attitude Maybe some of us would have changed too with riches on the table but the game still boiled down to 22 yards and between the two ears We were paid what the BCCI could afford Remember the generous Raj Singh Dungarpur had to rope in Lata Mangeshkar to raise money for our 1983 World Cup bonus Back then the Board had little more than a bank accountNow the times have changed BCCI marketed the game so well that the bank overflows and they even fund other sports Players no longer depend on jobs for survival A smart cricketer today has many income streams and good for them What matters is this If they remember their parents and coaches who carried them to the top it will show their true upbringingThe author was part of Indiarsquos 1983 World Cupwinning teamClayton Murzellorsquos Pavilion End will be back next weekSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper