India is considered a secular country with a diverse population that has people from various caste, creed and religion. And the same has been represented by its national sports teams. However, Indian cricket took a strange turn by orchestrating a full blown Hindu puja on match day.
According to Times of India, before India took on West Indies on Wednesday, the Chairman of the National Senior Selection Committee, M.S.K. Prasad, and some other officials, conducted a puja on the pitch. A BCCI Match Referee commented on this saying,
“As long as there is no damage done to the pitch, it’s not a issue as it was supposedly done in the morning. Once the umpires take charge of the proceedings, then no activity is allowed on the pitch till the match is over.”
He further added that,
“Some of the curators do puja at the ground before the start of the season but rarely is such a thing done on the day of the match. This is improper especially as it concerns an international game and could have best been avoided.”
G.J.J. Raju, who’s a former Andhra Player and an ACA/VDCA official didn’t mince his words and lashed out at Prasad for bringing religion into a secular game. He said,
“How can MSK take part in such an activity? This is what happens when ‘cricket illiterates’ are in positions which they are not suited for. The game is secular and bringing religion and superstitious beliefs into the picture is not proper.”
Raju mentioned that Prasad is the Chairman of the National Selection Committee and acts like these doesn’t suit his position. He further said that,
“The game is won or lost on the skills of the players and invoking the gods will not help anyone. Aren’t we making a fool of ourselves by indulging in such cheap gimmicks?”
Netizens were baffled after seeing this and sarcastically suggested Prasad to take the pandits for overseas matches as well.
1. Unfortunately, it is.
Is this true? 🤣 https://t.co/ukdFdfFJTD
— Satish Acharya (@satishacharya) October 27, 2018
2. Jaadoo!
https://twitter.com/StarkAditya/status/1056124886949810179
3. Lagta hai aap yaha pe naye naye aaye hain.
Never seen such cowshit before. https://t.co/LaUaqJJJ9x
— GarvSeSecular فخریہ سیکولر (@GarvSeSecular) October 27, 2018
4. Hard pass.
#CricketMeriJaan who is joining me in sponsoring 11 Vedic pundits for maha Mrityunjaya homa at all overseas pitches. If anybody, only God can save us from Annihilation overseas 🤣 https://t.co/VgFvJCJXCt
— Gopal Parmeswar (@gkparam) October 27, 2018
5. Good luck finding rain down under.
MSK Prasad performed pitch puja to ensure India wins against West Indies.
Next he'll perform Frog Marriage in Australia during a troubled test match so that it rains and match gets drawn— Abhishek (@ImAbhishek7_) October 27, 2018
6. Any doubts about that?
This man is crazy https://t.co/YQPzY4rEWp
— Adi (@aadee__) October 25, 2018
7. Mamla sangeen hai.
State of this clown 🤦♂ @BCCI https://t.co/orGUfn5Zmp
— RAMA (@Jehbaat) October 24, 2018
8. Don’t give him any ideas.
https://twitter.com/shirishy_/status/1055098685489467393
9. Say that louder for the people in the back.
Stupid idiots. Rely on talent to beat opposition, not this hocus-pocus. An insult to the hardworking players like kohli & dhoni. And some ppl justifying this in the name of our ‘culture’ – no this is plain stupid superstition, not a thing of ‘tradition’ https://t.co/6zAhHihpls
— Ashutosh Kumar (@ashukumar27) October 27, 2018
10. We never report on fake news.
Plz someone say this is fake news 🙄 https://t.co/LBilncZF8l
— sarthak (@SSarthak1609) October 27, 2018
India has already won the test matches against the Windies, one of the ODI matches and is pummeling the batsmen as we speak. So, it’s odd to see the Chairman of the selection committee turning to the gods, while the rest of the country is trusting our players’ skills and talents. Let’s hope they keep religion out of the game and motivate the Indian men’s cricket team by cheering instead.