The Athletic Index of a nation (Re: Cricket and other Subc..

Dear fans:

Let me begin by what I mean by Athletic Index of a country: It is the
ability of a country to produce Olympic class athletes in track and
field and water sports. We could also include the winter sports here
and sports that demand high physical endurance.

There was a time when cricket and field hockey were a connoisseur's
game, embodying the best of skills, technique, and artistry. Cricket
was also a gentleman's game where the rigors of athletic ability and
skills were not coupled closely with cricketing ability. Hence the
subcontinent thrived on these two games; dominating field hockey (8
Olympic gold and a World Cup win) and to an extent doing well in
cricket (a solitary world cup win against the odds in 1983, but never
world domination in its vast cricketing history). It was in cricket
that one could see the likes of Gundappa Vishwanath and Inzamam, who
are an epitome of batting skills, but never an example of athletic
fitness. While the Subcontinent always suffered in the track and field
events at the Olympics, its cricket and hockey were somewhat insulated
from these factors.

Field hockey, where the subcontinent had made a global mark in the
early part of the 20th century, was the first causality as modern
sports skills in any game increasingly got coupled with athletic
ability. The introduction of the Astroturf in field hockey in the
seventies sounded the death knell for Indian hockey (Pakistan hockey
still maintained its world power status). Field hockey now became
synonymous with speed, power, and endurance. The FIH (International
Hockey Federation) also changed the rules over the years to even more
emphasize the need for power and speed and above all supreme athletic
ability. And here's where the lack of Olympic athletic prowess blew
away Indian hockey by the wayside and left it as one of the world's
permanent middle powers. But Pakistan somehow still clung tenuously to
their status as a world power. However as time went by this emphasis
on Athletic Index in hockey grew and even Pakistan began to falter. (As
an example, the professionals playing Ice Hockey in the NHL in the USA
are some of the most gifted athletes on this planet) And over the last
decade, Pakistan, once an invincible hockey giant, was perennially
relegated to one of the middle powers in world hockey. Indian hockey,
fell even further and its rank is hovering falteringly just above the
lower powers in world hockey. New entrants like China and Korea, who
have a superior Athletic Index, are rapidly passing India by in the
world field hockey ranks.

But nobody in the Subcontinent took any notice at the cause of this sad
demise of Indian hockey. We had cricket's shoulders to cry upon and
our complacent "chalega" attitude just pretended that nothing was
happening. Platitudes on platitudes were heaped on the status of
Indian hockey but nobody so far has addressed the root of the problem,
ie;, the low Athletic Index of the subcontinent. But then again we had
cricket and all these batting superstars bred on mild batting wickets
and dust bowls and their flattering records took the country to an
euphoria fuelled by the multi million commercial endorsements. But
this low Athletic Index is slowly catching upon Indian cricket and
beginning to hurt as modern cricket is evolving more and more into a
game of power, speed, endurance, brute physical strength, stamina, and
above all supreme athletic ability. And it is getting more and more
coupled to the Athletic Index as time passes. And here's where
countries with a very high Athletic Index like Australia are thriving
and taking the sport to newer un-chartered heights: heights which they
now seem unlikely to relinquish for a very long time to come.

So what will happen to Subcontinent cricket. Other than the sporadic
successes fuelled by adrenaline and which cannot be sustained in the
long run, we should just be content as a middle to lower power in world
cricket. We should also be content with the flattering victories that
we will have in intra Subcontinental games while losing most of the
time to the Austalias and the South Africas and the New Zealands. And
meanwhile other emerging countries with higher Athletic Indexes will
pass us on the way up. And any hopes of sustained world domination
like what Australia has done for almost a decade, can be conveniently
abandoned. To top it, Subcontinental cricket has never dominated world
cricket in its entire history.

So what is the solution? We need to come to a serious crossroad as to
what is our identity as a modern nation. Do we need our quality youth
to concentrate on brain power and become quality technocrats or should
the quality youth concentrate on improving the Althletic Index. We
need to seriously ponder on this issue. We need to improve nutrition
and facilities. And I'm serious when I say this: we need to tinker
with genetic engineering to improve muscle mass and build to make
players of the likes of Andrew Symmonds, Matthew Hayden, Garner, Croft,
Holding etc. etc. The other approach is to import quality athletes
from poorer test playing nations like the Windies. And just like we
need to address and tackle global warming that is threatening our very
existence on this planet, we need to address and tackle our low
Athletic Index which is eating into all walks of sports in the
Subcontinent. Else, all the money and Pepsi commercials and all the
OOO AAHH INDIA will achieve nothing. Except, of course the staple of
Bollywood movies that blinds us to reality and keeps this tamasha,
parody and façade on and on and on.

Shiva IYER
100107