The recent Virat Kohli - Gautam Gambhir incident has invoked a debate on the internet on cricket being a gentlemen’s sport. Every time players show a little bit of aggression on the cricket field or get into a fight with another player, this discussion comes up. And it is indeed an interesting conversation to have.
Back to The Origins of Cricket
Since the first cricket game in the late 16th century, cricket has changed massively. Like many other sports, Cricket took birth in Great Britain. Englishmen played Cricket as a royal sport. It was the sport of the common folk, but also the sport of the elite class. They were by their definition the “gentlemen” that played the sport. And they brought Cricket to several British colonies across the world. It was popularised by Englishmen, who taught Cricket as it being a gentlemen’s sport, one where you appreciate the opponent and play with respect and dignity. I like to believe it was popularised as the gentlemen’s game to provide Englishmen with calmness to combat their aggressive and adrenaline-filled sport - Football.
Since then, plenty of countries have adopted the sport and have gotten good at it. Cricket was always introduced to new spectators and players as the gentlemen’s game, and hence people never thought otherwise. But in 2023, when the sport has evolved and changed so much, is Cricket a gentlemen’s game? Or was it ever? I don’t think so.
Define Gentleman
Cricket’s history is riddled with unpleasant incidents between players. Since the onset of international Cricket, it has never been a gentlemen’s game despite what many fans like to believe. Cricket is a highly competitive sport, and the truth is, there are no gentlemen in sports. Does that mean Barbarians play Cricket? No. What that means is, that the definition of gentlemen needs a little tweaking.
Athletes are highly competitive human beings. Inside all the nice guys in Cricket, there is a hunger for victory. That is what makes them special, that is what makes them turn up to play every day with the same intensity, and that is what makes them put up these performances we are fans of. Being gentlemen doesn’t mean always being respectful and conserved and not showing any emotions. Being a gentleman in Cricket means there is a line you won’t cross, and being a gentleman in Cricket means despite everything that happens on the field, you will respect the opponent off the field.
Being aggressive and flamboyant on the field brings out the very best in some athletes. The Australian team that dominated the late 90s, and the 2000s was a group of aggressive and feisty cricketers. They didn’t hold back on the field. They got in their opponents' faces, they made them feel uncomfortable, and they made the cricket field a hostile environment whenever they stepped on the field. Does that mean they weren’t good people off the field? No of course not. Many of them are great coaches right now, and many of them are some of the most loved ex-cricketers right now. But that flamboyance and feistiness are what brought out their best version of themselves on the field. That is what helped them win heaps of trophies.
Other teams like the Indian team was filled with calm and composed players. Sourav Ganguly was probably the only aggressive member of that team. They were calm on the field because that brought out their best performances.
What I am trying to convey here is that there is no one right or wrong just because of how they behave on the field. The notion of being a gentleman on the field is overrated and is talked about a lot. Honestly, it is an ancient concept that simply doesn’t work in 2023.
Let Their Emotions Flow
Cricket has gone through a revolution since the late 2000s. The IPL and other T20 leagues have changed cricket drastically. You wouldn’t find many similarities in cricket games in 2005 and 2023. Because everything, from players to how cricket is played has changed. So isn’t it time we change the “gentlemen’s game” notion?
We need to let players express themselves more freely. Let them scream to the top of their lungs, let them get into the faces of the opponent, let them stare off the opponent, let them swear, let them be themselves.
Emotions are what make these elite athletes humans. Tell me, have you never let emotions get the better of you? We as normal people leading normal lives tend to get over-emotional at times, then how can we expect athletes playing in front of thousands of people to always maintain their composure and never get emotional?
Whether you like it or not, your disagreement is not going to stop players from being aggressive and angry on the field. That is what makes cricket special, that is what makes cricket interesting. So what if Kohli and Gambhir get into a heated exchange? So what if they exchange a few words? We don’t have to paint anyone as being right or wrong. This is top-level cricket, this is highly competitive and highly stressful cricket. These athletes want to win more than anything, and that will induce these incidents where they get into heated exchanges, and that is okay.
Every time a player swears or says something to another player, we start talking about how he was wrong to do so, or how he should respect the other player. The reality on the cricket field is that there is nothing such as absolute right or absolute wrong. There is no black and white on the cricket field, everything that happens on the field is grey. In sports, there is no Yin and Yang, it’s a grey sphere. How you want to handle the incidents that happen, and whether you want to sit back and enjoy the entertainment that this is or stress about how one of the players was wrong to do what he did is up to you.
All I can do is leave you with this. Competitive Cricket is not a gentlemen’s sport. It is an intense sport where players would do anything to win. So let them sledge each other, let them enjoy being themselves on the field. After all, authenticity is the essence of sports. Don’t let the idea of right or wrong get to you, sit back and relax, and change with the sport, that is the way forward.
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