No longer in India, talent has a relevance to the awards gifted. I intentionally use the phrase gifted as awards are nowadays gifted away as token of reciprocating gesture for some favor extended. Political implications are always there. You got it. This blog is about honoring Mahendra Singh Dhoni with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award. Please do not ask me what Rajiv Gandhi has to do with Sports in India – I am clueless and all I know is Congress always maintained to name every action of theirs in their leaders’ name so the people would not forget them.
Dhoni is second to Sachin Tendulkar who was the only other cricketer to be awarded with this title. By all means, this award to Dhoni is too early. Dhoni has a long way to go and he has to prove himself as a good keeper, good batsman or a good captain. I do agree that media hype is there for him and even if he fails, that has been hailed as a big achievement. Dhoni is yet to prove himself in all aspects.
If at all the Government is interested in boosting sports as a career, it should look beyond cricket. Vishwanathan Anand is a Chess player who single-handedly gave India too much of recognition in the Chess arena and a generation followed him. There were stalwarts who brought us Medals single-handedly in Olympics and Asian games. They are not rewarded with this award.
Even if we consider cricket, there are others who deserves this award. Rahul Dravid is the next to Tendulkar in terms of runs scored for India and 3rd in the world to score more than 6000 runs away from home soil. He has scored 10000 runs in both versions of cricket and under his captaincy; Indian had won 16 ODI on a trot. He was neglected.
Anil Kumble is the next one who deserves this award. He has taken more number of wickets. Though repeatedly haunted for being an unconventional spinner, his tally will sure overtake the famous spin-quartet of India. He has always been a wicket-taking bowler for India whenever it needed. Jumbo is famous for his fighting spirit and is the only bowler to take all the 10 wickets in an innings apart from legendary Jim Laker.
If this is awarded for captaincy, then Azahruddin or Saurav Ganguly deserves this piece. Ganguly developed a team sense among Indian cricket. Till then, it was a game of individuals and Ganguly gave a fresh breath of younger talents and developed a future for Indian cricket. He should have been awarded.
As said earlier Dhoni has to prove himself. Unlike his predecessors, he is gifted with a ready made team of talented youngsters. Lady luck smiled on him but in recent tournaments lady luck did not favor Dhoni. Still, the media went on gaga over him. Had it been others, they would have been humiliated.
Dhoni on one single issue has overtaken Sachin, Kumble, Dravid or Ganguly that is earning more money apart from playing cricket – brand ambassador. If the Govt thought that this is the criteria for this award, then God help Indian sports.
Till recently, in India Mass and Class was discriminated. There were groups for the class (for example, Kamal, Aamir) and one for the mass (Rajini, Shahrukh). Awards were given to rarely known one based on talents. Alas! This trend has changed now. More the popular you are, more the awards you win. No longer have awards had relevance to talents. This is happening in every field. Under such circumstances Dhoni getting this reward is no surprise.
It is the high time; the authorities should realize that sports cannot be boosted just by giving popularity but by recognizing talents!
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