My Thesis: Why do I not consider Cricket to be a Sport?

Did this above subject strike a chord with you? Or did it offend you in some way? To your point, I did categorize this topic in Sports category! Either way, it is
surely a topic on which we may debate for hours and hours together, without arriving upon a
mutually-acceptable conclusion. And why is that? It’s because sports have this unique way of
appealing to our innermost emotions and bring out our rawest selves. After all, you must have
definitely seen people cheering for their favourite teams in sports and the fervour and vigour with
which even seemingly “cultured”, “sophisticated” and “professional” are transformed into the
Roman mob (no offence to Italians, this is a reference to William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”)
within moments!

So, in a nutshell, while we may never be able to arrive upon a conclusive and agreeable conclusion
to our debate, allow me to put forth my points solely because I have the liberty to do so, being the
author of this article! wink wink
In all earnestness, and from the bottommost-yet-sincere pits of my heart, I sincerely despise the fact
that cricket is even considered a sport by millions of people across the globe. When I was a child, we
had a small black-and-white television set in our house on which, like a lot of fans (especially, in the
Indian subcontinent, where this sport has a cult following), we used to spend hours watching nail-
biting conclusions to cricket matches. It used to be a gala social event of sorts, with family members
and friends gathering, irrespective of our beliefs and opinions, coming together to go collectively
crazy for a “sport” that is an emotion for millions of us. But while a “sport” should definitely have
this virtue of bringing people together, is it enough to describe the term and do justice to what one
should expect from it?

A simple Google search would show the definition of sport as: “an activity involving physical exertion
and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.”
Let’s drill down further into the elements of the definition:

1. Activity: Check
2. Skill: Check
3. Individual or team: Check
4. Compete: Check
5. Entertainment: Check
6. Physical Exertion: Chec…umm wait!

While cricket is definite physically exerting for a handful of individuals involved in it at any point of
time (people who are bowling, running between the wickets, chasing and fielding for the ball),
shouldn’t a physically exertive activity also lead to elevated levels of fitness in the people who
actually indulge in it?

Before I write more on this, let me tell you about my husband, who is himself a sportsperson and a
die-hard football fan – so much so that given a choice between breathing and playing/watching
football, he would happily opt for the latter (okay, this is a slight hyperbole, but you do get the idea,
right?)! Recently, we have been getting into a number of heated arguments on whether we should
consider cricket to even be a sport. While I used to vehemently bat for (pun intended!) this game
that is religiously worshipped by millions, my husband used to be absolutely against the idea of
committing the sin of calling it a “sport” (his words, not mine). And then, I took the efforts of
following other sports for a few days to see if my hubby was indeed justified in his assessment of the
game. It was not long before I started feeling that, yes, he was correct (there, I said it!). And while it was definitely tough for me to go against eons of evolutionary mental and marital indoctrination to
accept that he may be right, I was surely convinced due to a very strong reason.
Coming back to my earlier point about physical exertion – unlike other sports, cricket, I feel, does not
provide the challenge of physical indulgence as much as a sport should. If you would have seen,
loads of cricketers are visibly unfit, flaunting paunches that would put a sumo wrestler to shame.
Any decent sport requires strength training and nutrition to enhance the endurance and
performance levels of the sportspeople on the field. And when millions billions of people take out
their time to scream for you, cheer for you, heck even WORSHIP you, you at least have this
responsibility towards living up to and maintaining the sanctity of the term “sport”.
Now, you may counter my point by quoting examples of some cricketers of the current crop, who
work hard and possess really good fitness levels. You may also quote examples of West Indian and
Australian cricketers of yesteryears, who were a sight to behold, in part due to their impressive
physical selves. However, I personally feel that these are often exceptions to the rule rather than
personas sculpted due to the demands of the game itself.

Did this above subject strike a chord with you? Or did it offend you in some way? I know what you are thinking and to your point, I categorized this post in the sports section!

Either way, it is surely a topic on which we may debate for hours and hours together, without arriving upon a mutually-acceptable conclusion. And why is that? It’s because sports have this unique way of appealing to our innermost emotions and bring out our rawest selves. After all, you must have definitely seen people cheering for their favourite teams in sports and the fervour and vigour with which even seemingly “cultured”, “sophisticated” and “professional” are transformed into the Roman mob (no offence to Italians, this is a reference to William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”) within moments!

So, in a nutshell, while we may never be able to arrive upon a conclusive and agreeable conclusion to our debate, allow me to put forth my points solely because I have the liberty to do so, being the author of this article! *wink wink* 

In all earnestness, and from the bottommost-yet-sincere pits of my heart, I sincerely despise the fact that cricket is even considered a sport by millions of people across the globe. When I was a child, we had a small black-and-white television set in our house on which, like a lot of fans (especially, in the Indian subcontinent, where this sport has a cult following), we used to spend hours watching nail-biting conclusions to cricket matches. It used to be a gala social event of sorts, with family members and friends gathering, irrespective of our beliefs and opinions, coming together to go collectively crazy for a “sport” that is an emotion for millions of us. But while a “sport” should definitely have this virtue of bringing people together, is it enough to describe the term and do justice to what one should expect from it?

A simple Google search would show the definition of sport as: “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.”

Let’s drill down further into the elements of the definition:

1. Activity: Check
2. Skill: Check
3. Individual or team: Check
4. Compete: Check
5. Entertainment: Check
6. Physical Exertion: Chec…umm wait!

While cricket is definite physically exerting for a handful of individuals involved in it at any point of time (people who are bowling, running between the wickets, chasing and fielding for the ball), shouldn’t a physically exertive activity also lead to elevated levels of fitness in the people who actually indulge in it?

Before I write more on this, let me tell you about my husband, who is himself a sportsperson and a die-hard football fan – so much so that given a choice between breathing and playing/watching football, he would happily opt for the latter (okay, this is a slight hyperbole, but you do get the idea, right?)! Recently, we have been getting into a number of heated arguments on whether we should consider cricket to even be a sport. While I used to vehemently bat for (pun intended!) this game that is religiously worshipped by millions, my husband used to be absolutely against the idea of committing the sin of calling it a “sport” (his words, not mine). And then, I took the effort of following other sports for a few days to see if my hubby was indeed justified in his assessment of the game. It was not long before I started feeling that, yes, he was correct (there, I said it!). And while it was definitely tough for me to go against eons of evolutionary mental and marital indoctrination to accept that he may be right, I was surely convinced due to a very strong reason.

Coming back to my earlier point about physical exertion – unlike other sports, cricket, I feel, does not provide the challenge of physical indulgence as much as a sport should. If you would have seen, loads of cricketers are visibly unfit, flaunting paunches that would put a sumo wrestler to shame. Any decent sport requires strength training and nutrition to enhance the endurance and performance levels of the sportspeople on the field. And when millions billions of people take out their time to scream for you, cheer for you, heck even WORSHIP you, you at least have this responsibility towards living up to and maintaining the sanctity of the term “sport”.

Now, you may counter my point by quoting examples of some cricketers of the current crop, who work hard and possess really good fitness levels. You may also quote examples of West Indian and Australian cricketers of yesteryears, who were a sight to behold, in part due to their impressive physical selves. However, I personally feel that these are often exceptions to the rule rather than personas sculpted due to the demands of the game itself. 

You may also say that, by the same logic, even golf shouldn’t be called a sport! To that point, I would happily agree with you. 😊

In fact, I would go one step further to even point out that I don’t consider cricket a GLOBAL sport either! But more on that in another article… 
To conclude, while the above piece may seem full of hyperboles and exaggerations, it is important to mention (as I am sure the editors will, if I don’t do the same!) that the opinions expressed within the content are solely the author’s and do not reflect the opinions and beliefs of the website or its affiliates.