Sick of the hullabaloo over India’s dismal performance at the Cricket World Cup, a string of villages in the north of the country have banned the game.
Elders from 28 villages in Jind district decided enough was enough, the Asian Age reported on Wednesday.
They met at Uchana, north of New Delhi, on Tuesday as the media ripped into the failed players and coaching staff and unanimously declared cricket a ”meaningless game”, the daily said.
Cricket, a national obsession in the subcontinent, was ”no different from alcoholism or the DJs [disc jockeys] who dish out noisy and senseless Bollywood songs and Western music”, the panchayat or council said.
It went on to decree that ”noboby would be permitted to either play cricket or even watch matches on TV”, in the district of Haryana state.
”Any villager who opposes the ban will be ostracised,” the council said, warning that cricket had led youngsters into gambling rather than instilling a sense of sportsmanship.
Council secretary Jogi Ram said cricket was a foreign sport imported by the English and had lingered too long in India.
India, one of the pre-tournament favourites, were upset by Bangladesh in the first match and knocked out in the preliminary stage last month after a second loss to Sri Lanka. – Sapa-AFP