The match was fixed. Oh really?

India lost the finals of the Champion’s Trophy against Pakistan yesterday. This was talked about a lot wherever I went. Cricket to India is what Quidditch is to the wizarding world. And the finals had long been awaited with eagerness and a certain amount of surety in one’s heart that India would defenitely bring the cup home. Added to that was the years of rivalry between the two nations both in terms of politics as well as sports. It is universally known, and sometimes publicly accepted, that a victory against that nation means a lot to us Indians. Hence our widely telecasted defeat was a downer for many.

Is it our lack of sportsmanship or our long tradition of victories which is preventing us from accepting this fact? Whatever the reasons may be, we can’t come to terms with that nation’s wonderful victory. The wide margin between the scores of the two teams must have been what triggered this doubt amongst Indians, but even if India had losy by a run or two, the reaction would have been no different. And in our desperation and denial, we have resorted to to something which is more shameful than our defeat.

Many people, and the press, upon watching the commendable performance of the players in the green jerseys, were in such a state of denial that they said that the match had been fixed. Now, our stating this wouldn’t affect the Pakistani team; they have won no matter what we say. It is the Indian team which will feel ridiculed. Not only are we not appreciative of their performance so far, rather we have accused them of cheating. Is it not enough that the team had to suffer the brunt of a defeat that we had to level insults at them? In our refusal to believe, we are showcasing patriotism and an undying confidence in our country’s virtues, but in our accusations, we show how very uncertain we are about a fellow country-man’s honesty.

I can’t rule out the possibility of a match being fixed but I wouldn’t also dwell upon it since it hasn’t been proved true. Shouldn’t we appreciate the efforts put in by the Pakistani team instead of questioning the integrity of our own team members?