The cricket glue that held the nation together for decades as its sole unifying force finally came unstuck amidst scenes of heart-breaking tragedy outside the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday.

Not politics, not cinema and certainly not religion, cricket for long has been the one aspect of Indian society which united everyone in both victory and defeat as the national cricket team sought glory since the very first Test match at Lord’s in 1932.

The results have been decidedly mixed. But even in their darkest periods, no one gave up on the boys in blue and white. That unifying force has now been torn apart by the phenomenon known as the IPL (Indian Premier League).

Wednesday’s events, though, should not be seen in a vacuum, and nor should they be seen as a surprise. The deaths of 11 innocent fans were a tragedy unforeseen by those who have looked on in despair as rival franchise fans have taken on each other in both the virtual and real worlds. It has been a tawdry spectacle filled with hatred, abuse and bitterness, even spilling over from the IPL to the national team.

At the forefront have been followers of MI (Mumbai Indians) and RCB (Royal Challengers’ Bengaluru). RCB finally got their hands on the IPL trophy at Ahmedabad on Tuesday after 18 long years.

But the fans, rather fanatics, of these two franchises have polluted social media with their hateful comments. For MI followers to wish for Virat Kohli’s failure and RCB followers to hope Rohit Sharma will fail, even while the........

© Free Press Journal