There is a lot of talk on these lines in Indian media- Times of India 29 March 2007 by Bobilli Vijay Kumar, No less than Arun Nehru Asian Age March 30 2007.
Implicit in this is argument is: cricket CAME hockey way.
Did it? No.
Hockey has always been played by many Europeans nations since its debut in 1908 Olympics. India was at number one in the sport from 1928 to 1960- winning 30 games on the trot at Olympics while losing none, scoring 197 goals while taking only 8. After losing to Pakistan in 1960, India reclaimed the gold at Tokyo 1964. Even after 1964, Indian Hockey did quite well, claiming two Olympic bronze medals and World Cup in Malaysia. Its decline started with 1976 Montreal Olympics.
Cricket, on the other hand, was never played by more than handful nations. Even then India can boast of very few great results– 1971 series win against England in England (England had just beaten Australia in Australia), 1971 series win against WI in WI, 1983 World Cup and 1985 World Series victory in Australia. Out of these only the last two could be compared to Olympic gold.
Indian hockey is surely in wilderness today but it truly has a glorious past. I am not sure if the same can be said of Indian cricket.
Our cricketers are rich. Our cricket bodies and their bosses are richer. In our country, like Americans, we increasingly associate wealth with personal merit. Therefore, once the dust settles down on India’s world cup performance, we surely will find tons of merit in all our wealthy boys.