In the corner of an impoverished field

The venerated million dollar boys of Indian cricket must have got the shock of their life in Zimbabwe. The streets in the African country are filled with trillionaires and billionaires. Yet, there is certain irony, if not cruel sarcasm, in some of the most highly paid sportsmen touring a country and playing cricket where even a loaf of bread cost a few billion Zimbabwean dollars not so long ago.

It is unlikely any of the touring Indian cricketers googled ‘inflation in Zimbabwe’. If they did, they would have seen images of children carrying baskets loaded with wads of currency. Images of people holding up a note for one billion dollars in the foreground with a smile on their faces well out of focus in the background.

They may be laughing at the absurdity of being possibly the first starving billionaires in the world. A hundred billion dollars gets them three eggs.

There is no saying if the stadiums in the country will be filled as Virat Kohli (with annual earnings approx. $8mn) leads his men against eleven players not many cricket fans in India are aware of. But if women have to carry a load of currency that would easily outweigh the piece of bread they can buy with it, one can imagine the price of a ticket for the matches to be played there from today. The minimum price of a ticket is said to be US$5. But for Zimbabweans it is priceless.

Make no mistake, this series will hardly evince interest from an average Zimbabwean, who possibly sold his TV set to buy food or some stretch of tarpaulin for his leaking roof.

Yet cricket has been played in all kind of regions. Every population that loves the sport, deserves to have a chance to watch their slice of action in the field. So, playing cricket in Zimbabwe will be about perspective of each player, about how they look at the problems there, not so much about their conscience.

The conscience part has to be answered by the Board of Control for Cricket in India as to why they sent their tired cricketers to a country where in all possibility cricket has become irrelevant. If they believe some of  their untested players will get quality experience, they would be fooling themselves. Zimbabwe Cricket has stood by the Indian board as they navigated through many issues in ICC. This series is possibly a reward being doled out for the support.

India and Zimbabwe have played a few memorable matches. It was against this team that Kapil Dev scored his mammoth 175 during the 1983 Prudential Cup.
Not many can forget Dave Houghton’s blistering knock of 142 against New Zealand during 1987 Reliance World Cup. How can anyone discount Andy Flower’s stubbornness at the crease or the age-defying John Traicos.

However, that is history. This team does not have the Streaks, Houghtons, Johnsons or the Flowers. Even the cherubic Tatenda Taibu announced his retirement at an age of 29. There have been many reasons for decline of cricket in the country and racial politics is the main amongst them.

There was a report last year that during the junior world cup in Australia, the Zimbabwe Under-19 team was split along the racial lines. The white batsmen had complained that the black bowlers bowled only short pitched deliveries at the nets and the blacks had alleged that the whites were reluctant to restrict runs in the field when they bowled. If juniors behave thus, there stems little hope.

Cricket was primarily a white sport in Zimbabwe. In 1991 an Intergration Task Force was set up to bring in more blacks into the game.

However, the affirmative action led to a big divide with white players quitting the sport. The Blacks called it a racial plot to weaken their team. Many white players have since reunited as coaches after a compromise.

Racial division has hurt cricket much the way President Robert Mugabe’s controversial policy of land reforms has hit the Zimbabwean economy. We have read about how Heath Streak would drive his all-terrain in his ranch that is reportedly spread over 12,000 acres of land. In a country like Zimbabwe disparity is a much bigger issue as it related to racism. So it is difficult to imagine that cricket, a largely White legacy, would be left untouched.

There has been a lot of changes in the sport since Henry Olonga and Andy Flower decided to leave their country for good. But what must be hurting Zimbabwe most is that Andy is now coaching England, who are smashing Australian cricketing reputation to smithereens and the visiting Indian team will be coached by Duncan Fletcher, who was born in Harare.

Rahul Dravid once said that apart from big event like a world cup win, cricket should not be front page news. It is a sport and should be treated like one.
And the sport is no magic wand either with which we can wish away problems of a society plagued by racial politics and impoverished by greedy politicians.

However, history shows that cricket has on rare occasions helped people. Don Bradman gave Aussies the hero they needed while they battled The Great Depression. Sachin Tendulkar helped Indians walk with a spring in their step as the country tumbled through the turbulent 1990s. So, there is a sliver of a hope that whatever the intention, the series in Zimbabwe will be worthwhile.