Why this will not hurt ...!

Was left wondering after watching England bulldoze India to a well-earned 4-0 victory. I was surprised for the lack of heartbreak and hurt that usually accompanies an Indian loss. This was a rout by all means and yet, it did not really affect you. Following could be the reasons:

1. I did not get the feeling that most of the team members were really affected by this whitewash.
2. Especially, the captain who had the usual, put-on smile - the Captain Cool, who even gargled up some gibberish along the lines of "Well, of course, this is what makes cricket challenging. We have been winning a lot of series and now, this is a different feeling of losing"! Aw .. come on.
3. Except Dravid who one felt really sorry for, the others were merely going through the motions, instead of even putting up half a fight. Well, Mishra did a Harbhajan by doing well in what is unexpected of him and doing poorly in what you expect him to do.
4. Yours truly did predict the Master Blaster to fail in his nervous nineties - our little great man is very nervous for every single 100, so he has to be a lot more nervous for his 100th 100. Am wondering if he will do a Don and never get to his 100th! But then, he has sufficient number of 'very difficult' ODIs against England and WI at home later this year, if he does not manage it in these 5 innings!
5. If Dhoni is trying to tell us that this 'losing a bit and winning a bit' is the new normal, then it is the die-hard cricket fans who need to really wonder as to the future of this team. Captain Cool and some of our 'big guns' (who tend to fire only/more at home) are reconciled to the fact that as long as IPL keeps the money bags flowing, a few humiliations in the longer version of the game should not really matter!
6. 'Tiger' Pataudi had it spot on when he said that he could not comment much on why we lost etc, if some of the players are willing to play IPL matches with injuries and do not really care for representing the country - was surprised to see Sehwag join the ranks of Zaheer in this respect. Maybe, Sehwag keeps things real simple life - 'play cricket, earn money' like his famous philosophy in cricket, which is to "see ball, hit ball"!
7. In a way, it is all good, for thanks to this team (minus the spoilsport Dravid), this does not hurt like the heartbreaks of Sydney or Barbados, that we fans had to endure!

Let me end with the 'find of the tour'. He showed his calibre in his earlier life and also looked the part in his bit roles earlier. But, definitely he has been the find of the tour. No, I am not talking of Praveen Kumar (who was tired and injured as per Eric Simmons at his sprightly old age of 23, thanks to the workload of playing 6 tests on the trot!). Well, it is obvious ... am talking about Saurav Ganguly, the commentator.