Gap between reality and perception

Does the Indian team's outstanding tour change the way we look at it? Facts are: In England, perhaps for the first time overseas, the batsmen delivered consistently except for one day at Lord's.

Does the Indian team's outstanding tour change the way we look at it? Facts are: In England, perhaps for the first time overseas, the batsmen delivered consistently except for one day at Lord's. The team fielded well, departing from tradition.

And, most important, the boys stayed united to fight England, then displayed similar bonding during the contract controversy.

All this terrific work could go unnoticed. If there is defeat on Tuesday, which is a possibility, cynics would rejoice and rubbish players all over again.

Instead of celebrating Dravid's three hundreds there will be questions about his (so-called) inability to rotate the strike. Rather than look at Sachin's astonishing achievements over 13 years, there will be a flood of articles on imaginary technical defects and obscure failures.

Reason for a time lag before opinion changes is the disconnect between reality and perception. Reality is absolute and pure, it shifts rapidly like TV headlines in the evening.

In the cricketing context, reality is based on current form, on statistics, on a batsman's average and strike rate. Perception, influenced by several factors, takes longer to adjust.

The big gap between reality (what is) and perception (what people think there is) is only part of the problem. A disturbing angle is everyone is ready to believe the worst and becomes sharply critical.

Let us revert to the commonly held perception of the Indian team which paints it in lurid colours. Most people are convinced players are unprofessional, unfocussed, spoilt, money minded, selfish, and majorly insensitive to national pride.

This is not the case, by miles. Players not caring for India? Oh, come on, they care as much as any deshbhakt. Sachin unconcerned about fans? Silly!

The man is so distraught, due to anxiety and nervousness, he can't sleep properly before a game, this after almost 400 matches for India! Is it his duty to supply success to 100 crore fellow countrymen?

Why do we, mediocre people all, expect our stars to be super brilliant?

Often, players are wrongly projected as schemers who fight and manipulate. If one was to believe every such wild story, or theory, the dressing room would be a hotbed of intrigue, deceit and dissension. Why imagine the worst, and continue this quest for juicy details about A squabbling with B? Many critics point out that we are in the company of Kenya/Zimbabwe/Bangladesh in world ratings. This is true, India is certainly not Australia, but nowadays all teams are pretty well matched and days of world domination (as with Lloyd's team and that of Steve Waugh) are gone.

In an ideal situation, perception and reality should be xerox copies of each other. But that won't happen, it is like hoping Agarkar will go back to Lord's and score another hundred.

Which is why the Indian team will need to perform as they did in England for a length of time before opinion changes. But till that happens, the media will cook up masala and present it to an eager audience.