This made me ask the same question to few people who love sports and follow them for the joy of it. "Which is your favorite team sport and why do you think so?" was my question. As expected, Football was the majority answer. But there were a few interesting answers like Volleyball, Kabaddi, Basketball and even a 4x100m relay. As they give their reasons for that, I wanted to know whether that aspect was really missing in cricket. In other words, I wanted to prove that it is just their perception and none the less.
Most of them justified their answer as their answer was a team game and it can't be won by an individual like in cricket. I would dare to say that a cricket game can never be won by an individual. To score a hundred and win a game, a non-striker is required who gets no credit for running all those runs for his partner. Nobody in the world is going to say "Oh, how well has Raina run, so that Virat gets a hundred!!". Same is the case for the bowlers without those fielders for all those runs they save and catches they take. Cricket is a game in which by default we have to do things for which we will never be accounted for, so that our partner and team can achieve glory. Now that teaches a huge team value according to me.
Cricket is the most weirdest and toughest game of all. I gave a lot of thought before saying that. But, yes it is. This is the only sport where you can be out of the contest for the first two days of the test and over the course of next three days you may even win. It is the most toughest battle of all as it is more in the mind than on the field. And this is where team spirit will be taught as the same eleven has to be played over the course of five days. Unlike other sports, where substitutes can be changed as and when required depending upon their performances. Which means, unless until those eleven stick together and thrive on each other's success, victory is not gonna happen.
In other aspect, cricket is the most cruel game of all. It is the only game in which you will be forced to do things that are not in your specialized area. A fast bowler like Ishant Sharma has to hone his batting skills just to hang in there with Virat Kohli or Ajinkya Rahane to save the match for the country. He has to contribute with the ball by taking wickets. Now that is not enough. He has to remain not out at one end so that a better batsman can score the runs for the team at the other. There are times where a batsman or a bowler just have to field and do it to the fullest of their ability without getting to bowl and bat throughout the match. These are excellent circumstances where an individual contributing for the team without taking any statistical credit.
A few people told attentiveness and co ordination is required throughout the game time in sports like football and basketball. Those sports lasts for hardly ninety minutes. To have the same attentiveness and co ordination over the course of days where you wait for an outside edge which can happen anytime in those eight hours of play. One drop catch/run out and most times the course of the match has changed. Now having the same level of concentration an co ordination over a period of five days, how tough is that?
According to me every sport has its's own uniqueness in nurturing team spirit. With all due respect to other sports, cricket is a game in which we have to do things for the team which will never be statistically accounted. Volleyball, Football, Basketball, Kabaddi etc. are excellent team sports. Like all these sports, cricket has it's own way of teaching team spirit, which I believe is very tough and no less to any other.
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