Yuvraj Singh and the plastic Indian cricket fans

The loss in the final of the World T20 was disappointing to see for any Indian fan. But the loss wasn’t nearly as frustrating as witnessing the outburst of the plastic fans. It is a sport, and Yuvraj is a sportsman. There will be days when you look at him with awe and there will be days when his struggle will make you want to pull your hair out. But that does not warrant fans ridiculing Yuvraj as much as they did.

Just after the match, “fans” came up with a series of ridiculous jokes that went viral. “Yuvraj deserves the Man of the Match award as he single handedly won it for Sri Lanka”. “Two minutes of silence for RCB who bought Yuvi for Rs. 14 crore.” “Mallya to the RCB management: Yuvi ko OLX pe bech de (Sell Yuvi on OLX).”

This is utter rubbish!

This is the same man who has won India a great number of matches and tournaments. The same fans called a young Yuvraj the future of Indian cricket when he, along with Mohammad Kaif stunned England to win the Natwest trophy in 2003.

The very same ‘fans’ jumped with joy when he bludgeoned Broad for six sixes in an over. They cheered as he played arguably one of the best T20 innings against Australia in an all important semi-final in 2007. They admired as he caressed Brett Lee through the covers for a boundary and took India to the 2011 World Cup semi-finals. They praised him when his performances both with the bat and the ball won India the World Cup and him the Man of the series.

Then how can the same fans discredit all his performances of the past and show him so much disrespect after one bad tournament?

No one made jokes about Sachin Tendulkar when he got out early to Glenn McGrath in the 2003 World Cup final. Double standards much?

Yes, he has had a lean patch recently and he looked completely out of place in this tournament. I agree with the fact that at the moment, there are a few players knocking on the doors of the Indian team, who can perform better than Yuvraj. Maybe, they deserve his place in the side after these performances. But a true fan wouldn’t voice his opinion in such a flippant manner.

The point I am trying to make here is that the Indian fan expects too much and can get really unforgiving at times, having a very short term memory for judging players. The disparate reactions of the fans to Yuvraj’s performances of the past and the present prove my point. The fans have an identical attitude toward the performances of the team as well.

As fans, we celebrated as India won its first World Cup in 1983 and when history repeated itself 28 years later. But incidents like the one that happened at the 1996 World Cup semi-final in Kolkata, made true Indian fans hang our heads in shame. Why is it that the Indian fan celebrates victories, but cannot take a loss with dignity?

In the last few years too, the average Indian fan has glorified every achievement that the team has made, yet insolently criticized every loss. The impractical expectations and the unforgiving nature of the fans are to blame. It is a sport and it is not possible for a team to win every single game that they go out to play.

The heavy expectations that the unrealistic fans have, only puts more pressure on the team and its players. In a country like India especially, where cricket is revered not just as a sport, but as a religion. As fans, if we can’t deal with the bad times with due respect, then maybe we don’t deserve to celebrate the good times.