The myth surrounding the Gentleman’s game
Cricket has been around long since any of us were born and since with the history of the game, comes the legends and the myths too. Over hundreds of years these myths have been conveniently romanticized and turned into something that would favour the reputation of the Gentleman’s game.
Before we go anywhere close to the origination of the myth of cricket being a Gentleman’s game, it’s important to understand the wrong usage of it. Because of the associated word ‘Gentleman’, it’s been difficult to separate the spirit of the game or the sportsmanship from the former. Hence, every time an act is executed on the cricket field in good spirit, of sportS itself, the existence of the myth becomes stronger and inseparable.
Back in 2011, during India’s tour of England, Ian Bell batting on 137 was given "run out" in the most bizarre circumstances. England were well on their way to another win and Bell was in top form. Just ahead of tea on Day 3, Praveen Kumar had made a diving attempt to stop a boundary off Eoin Morgan’s bat but the ball had bounced off his leg as the fielder fell over the boundary. It was deemed as a four but then Kumar had relayed on the ball to the fielder at short-leg, who took the bails off. Meanwhile, Bell and Morgan, who believed that the umpire had called "over" were on their way back to the pavilion for Tea. But the umpires, on watching the replays, had realised that the ballad not gone for four and hence declared Bell out. However, at the start of the final session, Bell was back as India captain MS Dhoni had withdrawn the appeal over tea.
Bell’s dismissal was well abiding the rule book but Dhoni’s act was rated highly in terms of sportsmanship. But then again, it was equated with the ‘Gentleman’ myth. Just as the way Ravichandran Ashwin’s ‘mankading’ of Jos Buttler in the 2019 IPL was a highly controversial one as moral policing came in the way of following the rules. The act of ‘Mankading’, deemed absolutely legal by the MCC, has often been the biggest example wherein the cricket fraternity believes it’s against the spirit of the game and because of that the ‘Gentleman’s game’ takes a hit.
However, it’s far from the truth. Since a game that has seen the Bodyline series can never be gentle and it’s rather pointless to romanticize something that never existed in the first place. Cricket was, in fact, invented as a summer game that dates back to the 16th century but has only had recorded mentions of it dating back to the 17th century when English aristocrats adopted the game as their own. In fact, besides other leading sports in England at that time like horse racing and blood sports, cricket was soon seen to be as a gambling sport. Before it became a game of the nation, in the 18th century, the game was only open to the high class - the professionals and the ‘gentleman’ - the only ever mention of the word in the history of cricket.
But, unfortunately, even today fans mistake spirit with class. The word Gentleman was, in fact, a highlight of the social classification - a euphemism for discrimination- that was prevalent in those times. While it has nothing to do with sportsmanship, something that was only discovered and established by characteristics of different players, it has plenty to do with the order of class in England a few hundred years ago. So precisely, from WG Grace to Virat Kohli, all mavericks of the game are as much ‘Gentlemen’ as any other cricketer.
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