The gentleman's game
From its origin cricket has been tagged as the game of the kings. The aristocrats have enjoyed it for centuries. But as time passed it has been adopted by the wider society. The gradual rise in popularity has transformed cricket from a royal pastime to a highly professional sport. What makes cricket such a distinguished sport is its very nature.
To cherish every thread of a match for a course of five days requires a very focused mind. It's not only about flow of 'fours' and 'sixes' but it's about batting responsibly, finding the weakness of the batsman and baffle him with variation, fielding with enthusiasm and agility, declaring innings by rationally judging the situation of the match, playing mind game with the opponent, taking bold decisions, and most of all showing respect to the game by playing in its true spirit.
Cricket has been struck by various controversies for generations, starting from bodyline bowling to match fixing allegations. Some say that it is no longer a gentleman's game because of all these scandals. But I disagree with this idea because I believe that cricket is a separate entity from cricketers and a handful of them occasionally bring disgrace to the game by involving in activities which in cricketing term would be best described as “Not Cricket”.
To save cricket from further controversies it should be made clear to the aspiring cricketers about what kind of behaviour is expected and not expected in competitive cricket. Players, especially who come from underprivileged background, should be given proper guidance about ethical conduct. Most importantly, the respective cricket boards should take more responsibility in preventing any unwanted situations.
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