London Diaries 5 | The Expected World Cup Knockout.

In the last 9 months, England have been treated to two rather unceremonious early world cup exits. The first one was in the game which is a national rage and people are as crazy about it as Indians are for Cricket, it happened in the 2014 Soccer World Cup in Brazil. And the latest one happened in the game that the English themselves founded more than a century ago and have been struggling off late to be a dominant force in the game, it happened a few days back in the 2015 Cricket World Cup in Australia-New Zealand.

The soccer world cup exit was the more expected one, as England Football team is hardly a threat for the tops teams in the International Circuit. The culture here is more club centric and although the fans wanted their team to do well, deep inside even they were aware that it would be too much to expect from their individual stars to pull up this heist and go beyond the Quarter Final stages. And that’s what eventually happened, the club super stars failed, so did their team and England got knocked out in the prelims. The reactions here were quite contrasting, the local newspapers butchered the team with a heavy barrage of not so pleasant words, the bookmakers were bang on in their predictions and made a killing with this early exit and the fans mourned for a bit and then moved on to focus on the upcoming Premier League. Probably the only option an ardent English fan has, as England never loses in the league and invariably one of the stars always performs J.

The early Cricket world cup exit was a little unexpected one, not that the fans were expecting the fragile English team to lift the cup but the least that was expected out of them was to do better than the teams like Bangladesh and qualify for the quarters. But that was not to be and the only wins that they could manage in their entire campaign were against Afghanistan and Scotland. No wonder the reactions on this shameful exit were quite extreme and every cricketing expert lambasted the English team for such a dismal show. Interestingly, the local newspapers don’t cover much of the English Cricket out here, Cricket not being the no.1 sport and neither are there any high expectations from the English Cricket team and so the criticism wasn't as grave as the one post the Soccer World Cup exit. However, the true connoisseurs of English Cricket certainly had some interesting reactions to this debacle.

A local friend of mine attributed this early exit to the influence of IPL and England’s reluctance in being an active participant in the cash rich T20 tournament. He believed that all those teams who have taken IPL seriously are the ones who have excelled in this world cup. Not quite sure how true or logical this analogy is but as a matter of fact when India lost to England in the test series last summer, he blamed IPL for India’s debacle too J. Probably, some English fans are more worried about the success of IPL then the failures of English Cricket team J.

Similarly, an office colleague who is always very proud of the English Sporting culture was very disappointed by this poor show. He was equally shattered after the soccer world cup exit too but then he consoled himself that time believing that the English pacers will bring back the lost glory by swinging the Cricket World Cup in England’s favor in Australia/New Zealand. Now all he had to say after this consecutive drubbing is that the hopes are high from the upcoming Rugby World Cup J. Amen! No harm in being ever so optimistic J.

Another acquaintance of mine, an ardent English Cricket Fan and a typical high headed arrogant English man brushed aside this failure professing that this is no Cricket, real Cricket is Test Cricket and our focus is entirely on regaining the Ashes later this year. I couldn't stop laughing but gathered some composure and courage and politely asked him, Sir weren't you the ones who proudly founded this sport and are yet to win the most coveted trophy of the sport even once. He didn't pay any credence to my question but a sense of frustration and dejection was all over his face.

It’s not easy to empathize with someone whose team isn't doing particularly well in a major tournament like world cup and it is all the more tough to do so when your own team is doing particularly well. But when a team is consistently faring poorly in such global tourneys and still stays arrogant in its conduct it’s hard not to enjoy their failures. Now after the world cup exit the experts and fans out here are longing for a better show from their team in the 2019 World Cup which will be hosted here in the United Kingdom. My only worry to this optimism is, given the looming threat of a curtailed World Cup from the next edition on-wards, which might feature only 10 of the best teams in the world, will England be able to qualify for the same on merit and be a part of their home World Cup J?

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An afterthought - However, the best moment for me amidst this knockout hoopla was when I asked a dejected English fan about his bet for this World Cup and his prompt reply was I N D I A ! I was myself not so sure about this being a possibility but his confident reply surely made me feel proud about my team J.

Tendulkar Vs Agassi!

No no, it’s not a man to man duel or a comparison of their sporting prowess, it’s just that in the last few weeks I happen to read the autobiographies of these two sporting legends and I couldn’t stop myself from marvelling over their contrasting personalities and careers. Tendulkar’s autobiography was an automatic reading choice for a true blue Sachin fan like me not just because of the high anticipation attached with its launch but also due to its deemed Biblical status for the hard core cricket aficionados. Agassi’s autobiography on the other hand was not a natural choice, not that I don’t admire him as much but it was mainly due to one of my best friends valued recommendation that I resorted to reading it and my love for the game of tennis just added as the right trigger. And since I read them one after the other, a comparison of personalities was imminent but the startling contrast on the same was truly interesting.

Coverage – Both the books cover the sporting lives of  these two legends right from their anecdotes of childhood on how and when they actually took the game and the way it transpired into an epic success story. In both cases it talks in length about the most important duels of their sporting lives and also covers in detail their injury battles that went on to transform their character. Tendulkar however, have mostly refrained from touching upon the rather controversial issues like match fixing, IPL and doping and has been criticized as well for this evasion, but then he has categorically stated at the start of the book that he has not spoken about certain issues ever in his career as he was never comfortable doing so. Agassi, on the other hand has been as candid as one can be, be it his own trysts with the drug, his issues with his receding hairline or his take on anything that he felt was not so clean.

Love of the game – With the amount of success both these gentlemen have achieved in their respective careers it’s probably a given that both of them would have been madly in love with their trades. Not surprisingly enough Tendulkar has at length talked about his love for the game and all the sacrifices he has made to nurture his immense love for Cricket. But surprisingly, Agassi has time and again emphasized on the fact that how much he has always hated tennis. And it was only because of his Dad’s madness that he had to forcefully spend hours and hours toiling hard to excel in this sport and eventually weave his entire life around it. Weird, but true and the way he has narrated his frustrating experiences in this regards are outstanding.

Family life – Tendulkar has all his life epitomized and idolized his parents like an ideal son, he has time and again showered his gratitude for his Dad and Mom and emphasized on how they have been instrumental in the making of his remarkable career. He has also heaped high accolades for his elder brother Ajit on how he has been his partner in all the ups and downs of his cricketing career. Further to this, he has also defined his partnership with his wife Anjali, as the best he has ever had and he is indebted to her for all the sacrifices she has made in her career to let him flourish. Agassi on the other hand hasn't been so lucky with his relationships, though he maintained a cordial relationship with his mom and other siblings but one with his Dad had always been a wretched one. He always hated his dad for his dictatorial ways and his obsession for Andre’s excellence in Tennis, however in the hindsight whatever he eventually achieved in the game should be primarily attributed to his dad’s unparliamentary ways. Agassi’s love life has also been very contrasting one, he has been a maverick here as well and has had his share of affairs, breakups and divorce unlike the rather sedate and lyrical love story of the cricketing superstar.

Discipline & Work ethics – Leave aside Cricket, you would hardly find a more disciplined individual in any walk of life than Mr Tendulkar. His work ethics and focus for his art has been exemplary and almost impeccable. Undoubtedly, whatever he has achieved in his career is not just because of his god gifted talent but more so for his hard work and discipline towards the game. Agassi, however has been very volatile and lived on extremes with regards to his discipline and focus towards his game. For some periods he has been a strict disciplinarian, with a routine sans a blemish and on some he has been so reckless that it would bring a school boy to shame. No wonder, his good spells of tennis has also been so patchy and not so consistent as Master Blaster’s performances.

Contemporary Talk – Tendulkar has been as guarded in talking about his contemporaries or other legends of the game as he has always been all his life. The only aberration to this in his book has been his rather open hearted outburst against Greg Chappell, but for it and more for the disappointment of the grapevines he has been ever so courteous and gracious. Agassi on the other hand has been an absolute delight in this regards, he has blatantly spoken about his rivalries against Becker, Courier and Sampras and has also at length spoken on how acrimonious things have been between them on some occasions. And the manner in which he has touched upon these duels is one of the highpoints of his book.

Career wise – From the achievement standpoint Tendulkar has arguably achieved all that he could have as a cricketer and probably that no other cricketer has done in the past or might do in the future. Some might say a few triple tons would have made his CV a tad more complete but even without that, his has been a near perfect story, one that people can blindly idolize without any second thoughts. Agassi’s has been a total contrast though, with his talent, had he been Tendulkar-esque in his discipline and focus he would have clocked as many slams as Federer has won or even what his better half Stefanie has won. But he lived life on his own terms and probably has no regrets about it as well. His may not be a biblical story as Tendulkar’s but his is arguably a more practically possible one for the mortals.

Reader’s recommendation – Undoubtedly, both the books are a must read for any Tendulkar or Agassi fan. Tendulkar’s is more of a textbook, written well within the boundaries of the righteousness and for a true blue fan who has followed his career very closely, it offers not much novelty from the sensationalism standpoint. Agassi’s on the other hand is a perfect mix of his on the court and off the court exploits, that even his most ardent fans might not be well aware of. His may not be a prescribed textbook stuff but surely is a 70mm blockbuster material, full of action, romance and lots of drama. I enjoyed both these books to the core, Agassi’s a tad more for obvious reasons J.

Now it’s for you to decide, what’s your preferred flavor.

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