Once again- Anand is World Champion

In a country, where I believe that Cricket has been over hyped, there is a consistent performer in an other sport - that's our Chess Master Mr. Vishwanathan Anand. He is the world champion again in this year 2007. He had won the world cup in 2002 previously(I hope the year is right!).

At this time, where Cricket has taken over Indian fans due to Twenty20 world cup, I dont know anybody who is following chess - except people who play chess! I was watching news channel and it was interesting to look at Anand's comments on his world cup win and his return journey to India..

Here I try to quote him.. although not exact... "I'm aware of the way the Indian cricketers were welcomed after the world cup win. It would be interesting to see the kind of welcome I receive". These clearly says the remaining story - the biased Indian sport admirers.

I'm curious to know how Anand will be received in India. Which government will reward him and with what? I think the scene in India has been completely setup for a makeover. Here is the chronological order..
- Indian hockey team winning the Asia cup - No recognition from the people of India
- Indian Cricket team winning Twenty20 world cup - Overwhelming response from Indians
- Lots of discussions on Cricket being over-hyped
- Anand becoming the World Chess Champion AGAIN!
- Wait and watch - See how the people of India respond to Anand?

Cricket - A Religion

Huh! What a final match that was - India vs Pakistan - Twenty20 World Cup. It was full of drama - just like a bollywood movie with twists in almost every ball bowled.

At one time, it did seem that India were getting close to the victory. But that is when Mr.Misbah of Pakistan sent Harbhajan of India for 4 sixes in an over. One can imagine the impact of this over when Pakistan wanted almost 68 from 38 balls! Though this over was followed by a decent over by R.P Singh, the next over from Shreshant went for two sixes - this time the batsman was a Paskistan tail-ender Gul. It all seemed that India has dropped the World cup when the equation was 13 Runs from the last over of the match. After a long discussion, the Indian captian handed over the ball to Joginder to bowl the last and deciding over of the World Cup. First ball - Wide, Second ball - Six - the match had already slipped from India's hand with Pakistan needing 6 Runs from 4 balls. But Indians something to cheer about at this point of time: that was Pakistan's last wicket partnership! The next ball, you guessed it! Misbah gave a catch towards short leg attempting to play a cheeky shot towards long-leg boundary.

After this, it was just sheer celeberation of Victory by Indians. That celeberation that lasted until they reach the Wankhade stadium in Mumbai, where the celebration ceremony was held. The Mumbai roads were floating with Indian Cricket fans reminding the scene of 1983 World cup victory. I could only see the picture on news papers - that really amazed me of the crazyness of people in India towards Cricket.

No doubt, Cricket is a religion in the country. It just takes a few sixes on the ground to make a layman, the Celebrity. Every player part of the World cup winning team enjoyed rewards from the BCCI as well as the respective state governments. Worth to mention is Mr Yuvraj Singh who exclusively got Rs. 1 Crore for his six sixes in an over against England on Worldcup semis.

One cannot deny the hardwork the Indian Cricketers have put in to achieve this record. But we Indians seemed to have overlooked other sports. Just for instance, we won 'Hockey' Asia Cup with record number of Goals in the tournament recently! But I hardly heard anything about rewards for the Hockey players. But yes, recently I did read the news that the hockey players went on a hunger strike demanding recognition from the government. World famous sport Football - where are we in it? Baseball, Rugby, Olympics? Oh! yes, we have something to cheer abour in Tennis!