The Offside

A man who brought big bucks into Indian cricket, a man who was "like a family member" to the most important person in Indian cricket - Sachin Tendulkar - a man who has been closely involved with Indian cricket, Mark Mascarenhas, passes away, and in respect, the Indian team take the field wearing black arm-bands. The fact that the Indian team chose to make a public gesture of this kind during the Kanpur one-dayer against England has stirred a veritable hornet's nest.

Experts and cricket commentators across the country have been up in arms since then. Why should the Indian team have done such a thing? Who exactly was Mascarenhas to Indian cricket? The questions came thick and fast. But they represented only one way of looking at it. Taking things from the point of view of the Indian team, one can see that the players felt for the family of a man whose demise was untimely. The manner of death - a road accident - added to the suddenness and shock of the entire episode.

Feeling strongly about this issue, the players took the field wearing their arm-bands. In doing so, they merely conveyed a strong sense of solidarity to the near and dear ones of Mascarenhas. In short, there was a chance for the team to make things a tiny bit easier for the grieving, and they took it. What could possibly be wrong with that?

There is much talk about the fact that such honours should only be reserved for former players and perhaps officials of the board. Would such an honour befit India's average cricket administrator, thought by most to be regional, inefficient and even corrupt? Or indeed a player who contributed little to the game, or worse, was involved in tarnishing the reputation of the game? Mascarenhas did so much more for the game in India - albeit indirectly - and the players were absolutely right in honouring him in his death.

The Onside

It is a human tendency that rears its ugly head at every possible opportunity. When a man is alive and well, he is dashed down by his peers, accused of all sorts of shortcomings, and generally run down. As soon as he dies, the same people turn around and sing paeans to him. "The good that men do lives after them, the evil is oft interred with their bones," said Mark Antony in his famous oration at Julius Caesar's funeral. Perhaps it is some misguided incarnation of this phenomenon that caused the Indian cricket team to make an equally misguided gesture.

There is little to defend the shocking action of the Indian team on the day of the fourth one-dayer against England. The death of media tycoon and businessman Mark Mascarenhas spurred the Indian team into making a perhaps well-meaning but completely inappropriate gesture. Representing one's country is an honour not accorded to all, and with such privilege comes great responsibility. On what basis did the Indian team decide that they could wear black arm bands in Mascarenhas' honour?

When on the field, those 11 men represent India. Nothing, thus, gave them the divine right to decide that the whole country was mourning Mascarenhas' death. It is inhuman and insensitive to defile the memory of the deceased, but let us pause a moment and think about Mascarenhas. His affairs are currently being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation for various irregularities regarding television rights deals. A power broker and a ruthless businessman, Mascarenhas often put his money well ahead of the interests of Indian cricket. Why should Indian cricket repay him with such glory?

With no disrespect to the man himself, one has to say that the Indian team were completely wrong in wearing those black arm-bands. The last time the Indian team did so was during the first Test against Australia at Mumbai, honouring Sir Donald George Bradman. How can anyone condone Mascarenhas and Bradman being given the same respect by cricketers?

[ Archive ]