« Diary of a greenhorn | The (medium-) fast and furious »
September 25, 2010Posted on 09/25/2010 in Fans
An insider's guide to the wacky world of Indian fans
From Sankaran Krishna, United States
A typically boisterous bunch of Indian fans
© Getty ImagesOver the years, like many of you, I have been alternately exhilarated and exasperated by the reader’s response section at Cricinfo. It is a cauldron of emotion, over-reaction, jingoism, flames, and for all that, also an entertaining theatre showcasing the culture of sports in the different cricket-playing countries of the world. Based on a completely unscientific methodology - impressionism - and a nice single-malt to loosen up the writing muscles, I now offer my typology of Indian cricket fans.
First, we have the Capitalist. Forget about Marx, markets and modes of production, this Capitalist believes in dealing only in capital letters. His first act on getting onto his computer is to hit the “Caps Lock” key. He is blissfully unaware that (a) this is the equivalent of shouting at the top of your voice, and (b) most readers immediately, and quite sensibly, skip his post altogether. The Capitalist’s most used punctuation mark is the exclamation point and he uses every one of the 500 words allotted to him per post.
Second, we come to the Dadaist. Invariably from Bengal, or a part of the worldwide Bengali diaspora, for him life and cricket revolves around Maharaj, his beloved Dada - Sourav Ganguly. The Dadaist is notoriously thin-skinned about any insult, real or perceived, directed against Ganguly and cannot understand how the rest of the nation, or indeed the world, can be blind to the fact that Dada is the greatest player/captain ever to play the game.
Third, we have the Extremist. This is a man who scales the highest peaks of ecstasy when India win and plumbs the deepest oceans when they lose. He is given to highly eccentric suggestions: when India win, this fan will demand that Dhoni and the entire team be awarded both the Bharat Ratna and the Nobel, and will hail the current team as the greatest ever (never mind that the victory was achieved after five days of huffing and puffing to beat the Bangladesh B team). Conversely, after every loss, this same fan will demand the entire team be sacked, all their earnings repossessed, everyone boycott the products endorsed by the team members, and India quit playing cricket and focus on field hockey/kabaddi/gilli-danda as the latter is the “real” national game in any case. The Extremist often ends his posts-after-defeat with an impassioned statement that he will no longer be following cricket in any form. Fortunately for the rest of us, he is usually back in strong voice very soon after.
Fourth, we have the OCS (the Obsessive-Compulsive Sachinist). Irrespective of context, this fan’s sole purpose in life is to convince the rest of us that “Sachin is God". In an article on the growing popularity of cricket in Papua New Guinea, the OCS will surface in the Comments section demanding to know why Sachin’s contributions in this regard have been ignored. Any article that praises the batting of Ponting, Lara, Dravid, or Kallis is the equivalent of showing a red rag to a bull as far as the OCS is concerned. There is a substantial degree of overlap between the OCS and Capitalist. I often wonder what the average OCS is going to do once Sachin retires from cricket. Get a life, possibly.
Fifth is the Nostalgist. This species of Indian fans looks for solutions to contemporary woes in “unfairly” discarded players. Need a brilliant allrounder to take over that pesky spot No. 7? Why, the obvious answer is: Ajit Agarkar. Your current fast bowling spearhead is as blunt as a block of cheese? Bring on Debasis Mohanty. Your opener has a bat with all edges and no middle? Welcome back Devang Gandhi. Sometimes his suggested remedies include cricketers who have gracefully retired from the game (bring Paras Mhambrey back now) or even dead ones (how about Ambar Roy to settle that skittish middle order?).
Sixth is the Conspiracy Theorist.Nothing is ever quite as simple as it seems, according to this fan. All selections and exclusions can be explained on regional considerations. If Dinesh Karthik is picked as Dhoni’s understudy, it must be because Srikkanth, the chair of the selection committee, is a fellow-Tamil. If Abhimanyu Mithun is picked as the fast bowler, it must be because Srikkanth is a fellow-Southie. The Conspiracy Theorist is unfazed by contradictory evidence (I wonder if S Badrinath or Murali Kartik sometimes wish Cheeka did pick fellow-Tamils - they might get a look-in if he did!) Perhaps the main weakness of the CT is his very effort to logically explain something that all-too-often defies logic – India’s selection policies. Even the most committed of CTs threw in the towel recently when faced with explaining how someone called Wriddhiman Saha, a specialist wicketkeeper, made his Test debut- but played as a middle-order batsman.
And finally, the Agent Provocateur: This category of Indian fans is perhaps the least likeable for the sole reason he seems to follow cricket is to gloat over his neighbour’s misery. The AP often gives away the game by his choice of nom-de-plume: Inzi-the-alu, or Shoaib-Chucker, or Afridi-Ballchewer isn’t exactly going to win you points for subtlety. The AP will weigh in with anti-Pakistani comments irrespective of context and lurks on cricket sites the world over, and he especially loves needling Pakistan fans at times such as these with his holier-than-thou homilies. AP’s energetic postings are invariably brought down to earth by someone from the “other” side pointing out that in every form of the game, Pakistan’s record excels India's by a fairly handy margin.
When all is said and done, the wacky Indian cricket fans should be viewed with a degree of indulgence and detachment. They obviously love and care about the game. So, they are a bit intemperate in their judgment, often let their emotions run away with them, some of them are clearly a banana or two short of a full bunch, and they can be shrill and irritating. But before you occupy the high ground and disdain them, just remember that their passion drives the game today - and, more importantly, there is a bit of the wacky Indian fan in each one of us.
Posted by: Anonymous at September 25, 2010 11:29 AM
supppperb! hats off,a deadly analysis! Welcome to India,whr from ballroom to Bedroom,cricket rules life,here being Cricket fan is like holding a citizenship card!
Posted by: Ramchandra Upadhya at September 25, 2010 11:30 AM
This is a real nice post, to be taken with a pinch of salt! :P
I for one, am a Sachinist. But not an OCS ;)
Posted by: Ashwin Johari at September 25, 2010 11:38 AM
A very lame attempt Sankaran. Nothing new about it. An average Indian goes through all these phases in his lifetime.
Posted by: lazysuperstar at September 25, 2010 11:43 AM
Excellent
Posted by: Rachit Gupta at September 25, 2010 11:48 AM
I am the Dadaist* and the Extremist :-) Very nice post. loved reading it!
*PS: My surname's Gupta and not Dasgupta!
Posted by: Nick at September 25, 2010 12:08 PM
What about the fans who can't admit ST isn't greater than Bradman?
Posted by: Matty P at September 25, 2010 12:13 PM
THIS IS A FANTASTIC ARTICLE!!! WOW I LOVE THIS ARTICLE SO MUCH I JUST WANT TO READ IT OVER AGAIN WOAH!!
Posted by: Deepak Verma at September 25, 2010 12:40 PM
Take it easy Mr.Sankaran Krishna. People are emotional so that's why they don't want to be politically correct or diplomatic on websites.
Just enjoy the cricket.....
Posted by: Shobhit Bansal at September 25, 2010 12:43 PM
Nice one man!! give us the demographices of what percentage is what?
And me to the statistician.... the one who loves to quote any weird stat from Stat guru.
Posted by: Noman at September 25, 2010 12:44 PM
Well written and agree with every word of it! in fact I have come across all kinds.. Especially AP's on cric info. I make sure to wind them up and ignite the sparks when india loses a match! Their response is always enjoyable.. Long live Cricket..
*Your Neighbour*!
Posted by: farnkkie at September 25, 2010 12:50 PM
Like it!
Posted by: Sandipan Roy at September 25, 2010 12:52 PM
A nice interesting essay with tongue in cheek by Sankaran Krishna! It's safe to say that I have now become a Krishna-ist!
Posted by: Chandrasekaran at September 25, 2010 1:04 PM
And I appreciate Cricinfo to have put up this article and yes not forgetting to provide the Comments box as well. Don't where the writer is going to place me.........
Posted by: ShAh00 at September 25, 2010 1:27 PM
HELLO from PAKISTAN... Very Nicely written article.. A very similar kind of fan is also found accross the border aswell. BUT, the thing is that, We SUB-CONTINENT FANs (PAK, IND, SL & BGD) has made this present CRICKET a colorful & worthwatching event. The present popularity which cricket has enjoyed accross ARABIAN GULF, AMERICA, CANADA & AFRICA and partial ASIAN continent are just because of INDIA-PAK cricket. People love to watch these Nations battle it out rather than some dull, so called Gentlemen crowd in ENGLISH/AUSSIES grounds. We are Proud of Our Cricket :)))
Posted by: Sagar at September 25, 2010 2:18 PM
Absolutely Superb!!..well I was already checking my traits while reading this excellent article...well done Sankaran...you have given us one of the best pieces written on our glorious sport in recent times...Hats Off..by the way if I can add another category to it...i'll add 'Patriotic...not just to Team India but to Cricket in general...one who cant take anything against the game...will cheer for the team even if 50 runs are required of last ball...'you never know'...who watch every Team India match...and keep track of Irelands fortunes in World Cricket...whose desktop wallpaper is T20 World Cup winning Team India...who readily buys Cricket biographies in exhibitions...whose facebook updates are previous day match scores...and most importantly one who watches matches on TV wearing Team India colours...I belong to this one!!! :)
Posted by: Sampath at September 25, 2010 2:29 PM
Awesome article!!!
The writer has shown great courage which I think everyone should appreciate.
Posted by: Gargesh VN at September 25, 2010 2:38 PM
I am a Keralite and a life-long Dadaist. Jai Dada!!!!
Posted by: Raj at September 25, 2010 2:48 PM
Krishnan,
w/r/t "Conspiracy Theorist" - not a surprise you had to bring examples of Dinesh Karthik and Abhimanyu Mithun. If the chief selector was a bengali not a tamil, then you would have seen "Saha" as the resevred wicketkeeper not Karthik - sad but this is how it works in India.
Posted by: Vimalan at September 25, 2010 2:53 PM
a very nice one..you can add anti-Sachinist also to the list.
Posted by: Sathya at September 25, 2010 3:07 PM
@ShAH00 - Good one :)
Posted by: Avanti at September 25, 2010 3:17 PM
Many of us belong to a subset of Sachinist - SVP - Sachin vs Ponting. Quite relaxed these days we are. Regardless, a wonderful analysis.
Posted by: Kartik at September 25, 2010 3:21 PM
Call it anything, I think there is just a simple word to describe all this... Passion... Something the Indians around the world share.. Be proud of it.. I am :)
Oh btw.. Ganguly is an awesome batsman!! How could ........................
Posted by: shoaib khan at September 25, 2010 3:33 PM
very well said. i think this applies to all sub-continent cricket teams.
Posted by: Ramchandra Upadhya at September 25, 2010 3:37 PM
Anyone who needs proof for the above, please check out the comments on the Cricinfo FB status! Makes this all the more hilarious! :D
Posted by: jk at September 25, 2010 3:47 PM
You forgot to mention the the category - PUNTERS (people who don't really care if india wins or not. They only care about their win and they also love cricket)
Posted by: Nik Patel at September 25, 2010 4:01 PM
Man, you know us by heart. Best description I have read about the fellow indian cricket fans.. I can identify each of them in my friend circle.. LOL.. You are the man!!!!
Posted by: nijhil at September 25, 2010 4:14 PM
nice article i like it!!!
Posted by: Moksha at September 25, 2010 4:41 PM
There's another set of fans, typical uncles in the age group of 40-60 who used to be very passionate for Cricket in the 80s and early 90s but now believe that all, and I repeat all cricket matches played in this generation are fixed and thus there is no use watching them. They'll say in Hindi "Kya fayda? Matches toh saare fixed hote hain"
Posted by: sham at September 25, 2010 5:04 PM
Firstly, Sachin, Sachin. :P
I loved the OCS bit. Its so true. As soon as you mention Kallis is good, or Ponting was (note - *was*) the best batsman (for 2 seconds there), its taken personally. Rest of the article was good too, but I think I liked OCS because i'm borderline there.
Posted by: Balaji M at September 25, 2010 5:07 PM
:D good one;) written without hurting anyone's feelings:) ppl who don agree with the above r jus suprised how well you've analysed the ppl! :D
Posted by: Jindal at September 25, 2010 5:17 PM
Cricket in India is like a religion; Everybody wants to be Sachin Tendulkar. Some fans (including Matthew Hayden)even call him 'The God of Cricket'. Well those who don't agree with it need not to find it offensive. Everyone has its own belief.
I agree with my neighbor - 'Shah00', without Indo-Pak, Cricket is tasteless. Cricket runs in our blood.
@ Krishna
'I often wonder what the average OCS is going to do once Sachin retires from cricket.'......... Don't wonder, start believing it. I know MANY people who watch India's game just because of Sachin. Many of them will even 'CRY' when he will retire. Well, this is what Indian Cricket is all about.
Posted by: Jindal at September 25, 2010 5:20 PM
Also, I think what's new in your analysis ? I thought, everyone who watches Cricket knew about it.
Posted by: Nik Patel at September 25, 2010 7:12 PM
Matty P, you are capitalist.. LOL...
Posted by: VivaVizag at September 25, 2010 7:29 PM
I am a self-confessed 'Sachinist' and a devout 'Dadaist' and I am not even remotely a Bengali. Of course being a true-blue Indian and cricket fan I don't mind being typecast-ed by some primitive form of human species as an "extremist" or an "AP" as defined in the essay. If you cannot relate to the pride (or pain sometimes) of being an Indian/cricket fan without calling names - you do not belong here, just follow ice-skating.
Enjoyed reading it mate!
Posted by: Ajay at September 25, 2010 8:13 PM
Supperrrbbbb man !! very trueee !! cant stop laughing after reading this !!
Posted by: Atul at September 25, 2010 8:27 PM
Im a Nostalgist!
a true fan of Agarkar...I still make him bat at No. 7 in EASports :D
nice article
Posted by: Ramana at September 25, 2010 8:44 PM
Nice blog, you missed the "we dont have spinners like Bedi, Prasanna, Chandrasekhar who can spin and flight the ball" in the nostalgist section
Posted by: Chintan at September 25, 2010 9:36 PM
I hope you mention some more point about accomplishment done by sir Aggy (Ajit Agarkar)
Posted by: SAS at September 25, 2010 9:45 PM
Thank you for the comic relief. I have noticed that one can find sub categories applicable to subcontinental fans. We can add a peculiar version of HROs or Hidden Racism Obessionists. Another is ASCO, the Anglo-Saxon Corruption Obessionists who point to bad behavior of Aus/Eng. as a distraction defense; e.g. Bhajji Defenders (BD) Yet another is Reversers (RS) who pretend to support one side and severely (self)criticize that team. They then reverse again in another name, supporting the opposing in a soft tone, all to add to the confusion. Statistical Obessionists (SO) who have a cherry picked, self analysed statistical data to "prove" that Player A (their favorite)is better than Player B from elsewhere. Sachinists overlap here and it has now become a civil war, Sachin vs Sehwag. Are we seeing the rise of Sehwagists?
Posted by: AK at September 25, 2010 11:06 PM
Well put, Krishna! Revived my interest in the antics of the proponents of the game
Posted by: Varun at September 25, 2010 11:31 PM
Brilliant!
Posted by: Grant at September 26, 2010 12:56 AM
You left out the Jingoist (for want of a better name). Any argument ends up as a brash statement of the superiority and longevity of the Indian civilization. Some of the assertions of the technical advancement of the Indian nation vs any other country you like to name are laughable (and irrelevant) - particularly in the light of recent events in Delhi. Yes they have nuclear weapons. but you still can't drink the water.
Posted by: shiva at September 26, 2010 3:19 AM
So what's the lesson learnt? Nothing! I am still an OCS because I believe in him and love to be an OCS :)
Posted by: Miher at September 26, 2010 4:28 AM
well, its the same on the other side of border
nice article though!!!
Posted by: Sunny at September 26, 2010 5:47 AM
When I read this, I laguhed historically (and this on a saturday night at 10:40 PM Pacific time). Then I book marked this, because, you need something like this to go back and have a real slap-in-the-face funny read to bring you back to reality, once-in-a-while.
Awesome. Funniest ever, I have read on cricinfo. Come to think of it, I am everything that you have described so far. Man, what a wake up call. Thank you. Thank you....thank you. And thank you Cricinfo for finally posting that is "TRULY" funny. Your page 3 authors can learn something Sankaran.
Posted by: Rohan Bhalerao at September 26, 2010 6:03 AM
What an article..! Out of words really to praise u. I have come across each one of the above categories in my life and cant tell u how much i want every cricket fan to read this! By the way, acc to ur observation, i m a CAPITALIST and OCS..! And no, it's not overlapping in my case. It's total mixture of the two..!
Posted by: Satya at September 26, 2010 6:12 AM
Very well written.I can identify myself in three of the categories in various phases!
Cheers
Satya
Posted by: Suren at September 26, 2010 9:14 AM
Great article mate! just a reply to 'Shah00...'
I don't know about you guys.. but as a sri lankan i can safely say a majority of us are nothing like the typical indian fan. sure, if the team wins that's great. but when they lose, there's nothing much to it either. there's a lot more that goes on in real life that really matters. and thank heavens for that! it's surely no fun having to deal with an indian cricket fan, no matter what type they are.
Posted by: Rahul Jha at September 26, 2010 9:30 AM
SACHIN IS GOD!!!!
Posted by: @sachin at September 26, 2010 9:58 AM
Hey man,there are people like me who are big fans of sachin but don't belong to ocs.
All fans of sachin doesn't belong to ocs.we look at things rationally and what are we categorised into?
Posted by: jay at September 26, 2010 10:14 AM
I believe this is true with any popular sport in any country.. take the redsox ,patriot or celtics team and people living in that region go through these exercise as well...
Posted by: sam at September 26, 2010 12:25 PM
Good article. After reading it, I just couldn't stop myself from reading the 'comments' section. You sure seemed to have touched a few raw nerves discernible from phrases like "a lame attempt" and "take it easy". Maybe your analysis was uncomfortably true in their case. And being a bengali myself, I know a lot of 'dadaists'.
Posted by: Jindal at September 26, 2010 12:36 PM
@ Sagar
Good one, mate. Hats off to your LOVE for Cricket. :)
Posted by: Sinhabahu at September 26, 2010 2:31 PM
Absolutely hilarious! GOLD hahaha!
Posted by: raghu at September 26, 2010 8:19 PM
Awesome! Brilliant!
Posted by: Testman at September 27, 2010 3:34 PM
Very nice article.. and good analysis...
Posted by: Patrick at September 27, 2010 10:24 PM
One of the best articles on Cricinfo. Describes hilariously (particularly the OCS part) a lot of the joys, frustrations and annoyances that come from reading the comments section on any article, but more importantly conveys how important the variety of Indian cricket and its fans is to the sport. Their passion is worth infinitely more than the money of their IPL oligarchs to cricket.
Posted by: The german at September 28, 2010 7:34 AM
Absolutely spot on. Especially the OCSs go on ones nerves now that the Dadaists have almost vanished. But two categories are missing: One as Shobhit Bansal has already mentioned the weird stat lover and two the ones who spare every second letter in theirs posts - the consonant lovers.
Posted by: Ashish Singh at September 29, 2010 12:52 PM
I dont know u r having knowledge of sub-continent or not. here we r having different cultures,diffrent languages ,and so much diversity in various aspects.. there r very few things which brings us one the same stage and make us to fill altogether.. cricket is one of those few and it brings all Indian at one place and unite them..So its a positive thing.
Posted by: Mina Anand at September 29, 2010 2:25 PM
Believe it or not, but I am a fan that supports the Indian Team, through thick and thin.
Always feel privileged to be an Indian Cricket Fan.
And, I am a huge Dada fan as well - but am not a Bengali ! So, that disproves your 'invariably from Bengal' theory !!
Always thought he would come back, even at the height of the Chappell regime. History proved me right !
Here is a link to an Ode to Ganguly:
http://udtacheetah.targetgenx.com/category/sports/
Posted by: yuvraj wade at September 29, 2010 4:27 PM
nice article....
u hav mentioned abt some discarded players,but mind u ajit agarkar still can posses threat to most of d quality batters,if nehra & zaheer got chance to comeback in to cricket then why not agarkar? he had been in d team till dravid was captain(2007),if age is d criteria,then nehra & zak are no more younger
i know by ur standard i am nostalgist but its ok
Posted by: snowy at September 29, 2010 6:06 PM
And there is one more cricket fan.. the fool who thinks who has seen it all... i am talking about the writer...
Posted by: Anonymous at September 29, 2010 6:35 PM
Cricket to me has been an Obsessive Cumpulsive disorder and I am not planning to change myself.I've seen my Cousin's mariage being adjusted to a date where it doesnt clash with an India cricket match,skipping univrsity exams to watch Tendulkar bat(coz you can write the exam next year,but can't watch the same match live next year),huge roars in Office canteen when india plays(most american clients are amazed by that,but British deligates tend to undertsnad it)Passion is what drives most indian fans and cricket owes to them.
Posted by: pkss at September 30, 2010 4:14 AM
this post is somewhat good but may be missing some categories
Posted by: seeta ram at September 30, 2010 9:05 AM
an extremely good analysis...............
I am a etremely extreme DADAIST.........and i am not a Bengali........
Posted by: Mohammad Asad at September 30, 2010 2:44 PM
Mohammad Asad from USA.....
Good one !!!!
Look ... how much emotion // how much people involved in cricket in sub-continent...Cricket in the blood...cricket is religion.... I like that !!!
Cric. is a great source of entertainment in Hindustan (without borders) I mean sub-continent....We all enjoy it !!!
Any way GOOD for Cric..................
Posted by: R Sivasubramaniam at October 2, 2010 2:46 AM
The Indian fan can be obnoxious at times - especially in England.
I was unfortunate in getting a seat two rows behind a group of Indian fans at a ODI at Leeds.
These chaps leapt on to the chairs and were quite oblivious to the fact that there were paying customers seated behind and who wished to watch the match.
When reminded there stared and carried on - of course the Police or the Security were nowhere to be found.
Siva from Singapore
Posted by: apoorv at October 2, 2010 5:45 AM
awesome man.... Truly its one of the best articles at cricinfo......
I am a TOTAL SACHIN FAN!!! ( You may find me capitalist too)
I may not be true OCS but yet a Sachin fan.....
Hats of to you.....
Thanx for such an article!!!
Posted by: Raghunath V.J at October 7, 2010 4:13 AM
excellent piece-very funny and perceptive
we also have the MAD number Obsessed Spectator/STATISTICIAN-who will constantly tell you that this is the third time Dravid has scored a fifty on a wednesday in India or that this test was the fourth occassion when more than 30 scores were single digits-as spectators at test matches they will clap like mad whenever team or individual reaches every 25 or 12.5 runs and clap like crazy for every maiden over bowled-get very thrilled when Fazal bowled to Contractor-screaming "Captain to Captain".
in my young days we had the WE ARE USELESS-CANT WIN TYPES-who will keep whining about how terrible we are and how great WI and Aussies are-but expect Mankad and Manjrekar to score centuries every time
The Inbox will feature submissions from you with us playing gatekeeper as we do with the rest of the site. We will set no rules apart from ensuring a certain quality that you have come to associate with Cricinfo. You may write on the aspects of the game that you hold dear; about matters that rile you; about players, teams and trends; you may share your memories and views, and you may so do so in 100 words or 500. The only tip we will give you is to repeat a line from our style sheet: Brevity is not just the soul of wit, it is the heart of all writing.
- The Brown Headley
- Andre Adams' international career
- Matt Coles - future England star?
- Give MS Dhoni his due
- The County Championship - why we should be excited
- An unassuming man called Rahul Dravid - Part 2
- The man behind The Wall
- What the BPL failed to do for Bangladesh cricket
- Memories of a great Test
- The myth of ‘bowling in the right areas’