Believe it or not

I am a huge fan of cricket. Heck, I'm a fan of any team sport because it helps build character and what the French so beautifully called espirit de corps. Cricket charges me up not only because it has such beautiful elements of strategy and action, but also because it teaches virtues such as patience, practice, fortitude, humility, defense, offense, when to let something go, and when not to let something go. It teaches us so much about life. It's a shame that such an amazing game has been so misappropriated, humiliated and slandered.

The IPL betting scandal has put cricket and everything glorious about it under the germ scanner. Many people are delighted that such a scandal was exposed because the IPL, according to them, represents all the evil in this world - ungodly sums of money, sleaze, booze, dope... the list goes on. Some are even calling for a ban on the gentleman's game. In my humble opinion, all this hatred and negativity is uncalled for. The guilty must definitely be caught and punished. However, just because a few people involved with cricket are corrupt, cricket does not become meaningless. It does not make the effort that honest players put in worthless. Just as no player is above the game, corruption in the game is not above the game. To be able to see the game in this light, we need to believe in the sanctity of the game.

Belief is not something that comes easy. If we were to ditch everything on the basis of corruption, imagine our life. No democracy because most of our netas are corrupt, no schools because teachers are only interested in taking tuitions and do not teach anymore, no religion because so many of our religious leaders are corrupt, no movies because some movies are funded by the underworld, no soccer because almost every other match is fixed, and now no cricket because Sreesanth and his friends were such asses. Everything around us, every system, and every institution is tainted by corruption. Do we abandon everything because of this?

We need to believe in the good that still exists. Nothing is ever purely good. The greatest good in this world has the potential to become the greatest evil. We need to believe in the part that is good, and that it will eventually always triumph. This could be in governance, in religion, society, value sets, what have you. If we stop believing in our inherent potential for goodness, we will be left wandering in a very dark place.

We need to believe that in the face of adversity, when the darkest times are upon us, the best in us will stand up and deliver. In 2000, when Azhar (my favourite batsman even when Sachin was in his prime) and Jadeja were indicted in match fixing scandals, Sourav took the helm and with the help of cricketers who played for pride and honour, rebuilt the side. Those of us who never stopped watching cricket after Azhar was thrown out; those of us who believed that this too would pass were rewarded with some of the best times in Indian cricket.

As in cricket, so too in life, we need to believe that Good will thrive in spite of Evil and not in its absence. We need to believe that our Wall will not crumble. In the immortal words of Journey, "Don't stop believin'...Hold on to the feelin'."