“Adventure is a sport in itself, as is every sport an adventure.”
Adventure, as per general dictum pertains any activity or activities which infuses us with emotions of thrill, excitement, and vulnerability. We see adventure as a challenge, an experience that would be worth the work. As we observe closely along these lines, one can logically conclude that adventure is equivalent of a sport in more than one way. And it’s not blasphemous! Sports and adventure are nothing but two brothers living across different competitions they put us in a situation sometimes where it’s terribly hard to distinguish who’s who! Amidst all these thoughts floating across my mind, I think of the two things that keep my TV together and arrive at the question- How is Man V/s Wild, the T.V. Reality show similar to my our beloved sports, cricket?
Let’s first have a look at Man V/s Wild. Each episode of the show follows a pattern- Bear Grylls is left stranded in a place away from human civilization. The places are usually one of these- a forest, jungle or such other place. Bear Grylls tells us about the problems and the difficulties that he faces over there, the techniques he uses and how he survives. Yes, How he Survives amidst all this, how he manages to stay afloat, keep himself motivated and finally manage to walk to the other side, via a helipad, a bus or any other vehicle. We love the urban techniques, the green-grass beds and the Stone Age fire, but what draws people like you and me is how Bear Grylls is able to weather the storm (pun intended) and live long after…
Now let’s examine the game of cricket. Cricket is in a nutshell, a confrontation- 11 V/s 1. The Batsmen awaits his nemesis, the bowler. The bowler runs in, charges towards the crease, full speed and hurls the ball at the batsman. The Batsman meanwhile was trying to slip into the bowler’s minds and pre-anticipate what he has up to, and the ball comes towards him and he has to make a decision- leave it or touch it. This all happened in mere seconds as the batsman gets ready to face the next ball, then the next ball and the next, also taking into account the other 10 people, cheering his every failure till he gives up. What fascinates us as the viewer is the how the batsman stands up against these challenges- the challenge of facing very wide array of bowlers both spin and face, manipulating the field placements wisely and the stamina to bat for an hour or two, and even for days sometimes. The eventual joy comes when a batsman hits a beautiful off-drive, bisecting the 6 -7 fielders guarding the area. And the Batsman survives for one more ball…
As is clear here, Man V/s Wild is a more similar to cricket than what we thought it to be. Both enjoy huge following, pit individuals against an entire ecosystem of trials and tribulations and share joy when they survive this ordeal. SURVIVAL & STRUGGLE are the prime facet of both the TV show and Cricket- both will do well to maintain this aesthetic nature of their self’s to keep drawing fans and keep them interested.
