Now that Tiwari has been selected to the Indian team, the media has started its build up. You will hear now a lot of tales how strong brave and talented this lad is. You will hear tales from his coach, his mother, his brother and the neighbor’s wife from across the street.

His coach will tell us that his lad is the best thing to happen to cricket after stumps and the bails. The coach will tell us the uninformed janata about the abilities the boy possesses. The coach will talk about the discipline sacrifice the boy has made. We will also be told about the immense potential which will shock the bowlers all over the world. We might also hear tales that McGrath retired from cricket as he feared bowling to Tiwari. The coach will also tell us how he identified potential when he saw young Tiwari hold his bat to face bowlers bowling under arm.

Then we will have media visit net practice where in the young talented batsman will knock the expert bowlers from Indian team all over the stadium. The media will also identify the fearlessness with which the young man faced the veterans and we will also get expert opinions from various ex cricketers. His coach from under 19 will tell the media that he had told the board to keep an eye for the young man. He will tell us that he is not surprised at young mans feat. All this is before the young man has faced a single ball in international cricket. The media will also ignore the fact the bowlers the young man has hit all over the stadium are mediocre and above hill who themselves were slaughtered by Bangladesh a few weeks ago.

Then the young man might score a fifty against Bangladesh after which we will hear tales from the family. His mother will tell us how the rotis she makes help him concentrate when he faces Shaun Tait or Malinga. We will also hear tales how his father never watches his game as he is very tense when young man comes to crease. The mother will pray before the idol doing puja as long as the brave son is on crease facing the evil ravanas bowling at him. Then we will hear from Mrs. Sharma from across the street that young Tiwari loves milk with jalebi and how the boy can finish 2 gallons of milk.

I don’t know understand why the media goes overboard every time a young batsman makes it to the Indian team. Why are we so desperate to make heroes out of average people? How many have come and gone but we still do this every time a young cricketer makes his debut. There is a list of cricketers that I can recount and you will remember who have been identified as the next kapil, gavaskar or Sachin. Remember Ashok Malhotra who was the next Viswanath or Hirwani or Suresh Raina or Razdan or Wassan. Where are they now?

We Indians are so desperate for national heroes that any sliver of light is immediately identified as the sun itself. We put immense pressure and build up expectations putting pressure on the young men. Many of them like say Vinod Kambli get ideas about their immortality and being demi gods. This in turns them in to complete disaster and stops any potential of their growth.

The young men then start to believe the fake tales about themselves. They would start to think the bowlers world over are really scared of them. It is ok not to work to hard as walking the ramp is as good as running between wickets during the practice games. They will soon be seen hitting the party scenes all over Mumbai with young upcoming starlet. Both the starlet and the cricket star will deny any romance but insist they are just good friends. While all this happening we will see lot of advertisements all over the TV how boost is the secret of his energy or wearing Rupa’s underwear gives him the guts to face Malinga.

If you don’t believe what I say look at Sehwag and Harbhajan to just to name two. These guys are still in the Indian team based on one series long time ago. Look at Robin Uthappa who was supposed to be Sehwag Vista but is sadly now struggling to retain his spot under the sun.

So for Indian cricket’s future sake let us leave Tiwari and Sharmas of the world alone. Let them play for a couple of seasons before we start building temples and doing aartis.

What do you guys think?