The T20 World Cup Highlights The Increasing Interest Of Sikhs & Europeans In Cricket

If Sikhs were synonymous with hockey in the last millennium, they are firmly and gradually moving up the ladder of their new found love in cricket, a game that now threatens to cross the commonwealth barriers to lure affluent nations that earlier considered it more of a waste of time than a sporting contest. Our Indian correspondent examines one of the possible outcomes of our much more globalised world. The expansion of one sport, Cricket, into otherwise un-interested areas of society. This broadening of horizons is currently being highlighted at the Cricket 20/20 World Cup, being held in England, up until the 21st of June.

June.17.2009 - PJ Paul, Independent Writer

CRICKET WAS ALWAYS A BIG PLAYER
If world has changed, so has cricket. From a five-day contest called Test cricket that invariably ended with no result, it has become a pulsating, easy-to-follow game that generates intense excitement among its followers both on the playfield as well as on TV screen. Needless to say cricket is the biggest entertainer at least in the South Asian continent if not all over the erstwhile British-ruled Commonwealth of nations. The annual turnover from TV coverage of cricket worldwide is second only to soccer. Besides the British, South Asian expatriates follow the game worldwide. The man who brought commercial success to cricket is none other than Inderjit Singh Bindra, a Sikh from Punjab, once home of hockey.

INDIANS SUITABILITY TO HOCKEY
In the last millennium, the British in its colonies introduced cricket, like hockey. If Indians made a meteoric rise in hockey, it was because of suppleness and flexibility of their bodies because of which they could executive some delectable body swerves to dodge their opponents. India not only won seven Olympic championships in hockey, but also taught the rest of the world the niceties of this game. In 1968 Mexico Olympic Games, Sansarpur, a small village adjoining Jalandhar Cantonment in Punjab, sent eight players; five of them represented India and the remaining Kenya. And all eight were Sikhs. The British are believed to have introduced hockey in areas surrounding their Army Cantonments and the Jalandhar area picked up the game fast before becoming the nursery of world hockey. If one counts Sikhs, who played in Olympic hockey competition between 1928 and 2008, the number would safely be over a century with more than 60 of them having represented countries other than India. Sikhs have played for England (Great Britain in Olympics), Canada, Kenya, Uganda, Malaysia and Hong Kong besides a few other countries. So that was the love of Sikhs for hockey.

SOUTH ASIA KEEPING CRICKET AFLOAT
If it was left to expatriates from the South Asian continent to make hockey the world game in the last millennium, now the onerous responsibility on the community is to repeat it for cricket. From a closed world of six – England, Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, South Africa and West Indies - Test playing nations till 1970s, the International Cricket Council extended its domain to three more nations Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe before venturing to shorter and instant version of the game – One Day Internationals (ODI) with each of the two teams playing 50overs – six balls bowled in a stretch by a bowler is called an over - and now T20 thus limiting it to be contest of 20overs each.

EUROPEANS MAKING A MARK & SIKHS BECOMING ENTWINED
Among the newcomers, the Netherlands made a sensational win over England, the oldest cricket-playing nation, in the ongoing T20 World Cup in England early this month. Cricket, has been luring Europeans, like Sikhs, into its fold. This time in the T20 World Cup, Scotland, Ireland and the Netherlands besides England are European representatives. Since 2007 when South Africa hosted the inaugural T20 World Cup, this version of the game has been instant success with the game enthusiasts all over the globe. The second edition, currently in progress in England, has shown increased participation of Sikhs. Three of participating nations – England, Scotland and India – have Sikhs represented on them.

IT HASN'T ALWAYS BEEN THAT WAY
Intriguingly, Sikhs, because of their engrossment in hockey, never took cricket seriously till about the turn of the last millennium. Among the first few Sikhs to play for the country were two brothers – AG Milkha Singh and AG Kirpal Singh. They came from South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. AG Kirpal, who fell in love with a Christian girl, later converted and married her. Of the most successful Sikh cricketers have been Bishen Singh Bedi, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Maninder Singh, Balwinder Singh Sandhu and Harbhajan Singh who represented India with distinction. They used an under turban or patka to cover their unshorn hair on the playfield. Father-son duo of Yograj Singh and Yuvraj Singh are cleanshaven Sikhs to play for India. Interestingly, Mudhsuden Singh Panesar – Monty – became the first turbaned Sikh to represent a country other than India in Test cricket. He made his debut for England against India in India in March 2006. Since then Ravinder Singh Bopara – Ravi Bopara – has become the second Sikh to play for England. And Scotland was represented by another cleanshaven Sikh, Navdeep Singh Poonia, in the 2009 T20 World Cup.

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