Storm in the cheering corner

You can’t accuse the Indian media of not taking the IPL seriously. Today, CNN IBN has posed the million-dollar teaser: “Do cheerleaders degrade the game of cricket?” So outraged is the channel on behalf of its viewers that the question was illustrated by a close-up of a cheerleader’s cleavage. Clearly, a lot of people are working themselves into a lather.

CNN IBN was persuaded to ask its viewers to vote on the issue by the indignation of the Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party, a right wing party who are arguing that cheerleaders are no better than “bar dancers”. To the best of my knowledge, bar dancers are paid by the boogy. Whatever you make of the cheerleaders who have become one of the more incongruous features of this competition, I have yet to see them venture into the crowd touting for 100-rupee notes to be shoved into their bosom.

For the players, these wholesome apple-pie Americans are not a problem (and, hey, does that surprise you?). The day before the tournament started in Bangalore, Rahul Dravid could not stop smiling as he gave us his considered view of the ladies of the Washington Redskins, who had been hired by the Royal Challengers to lend something or other to the opening ceremony. “I’ve heard a lot about them as well,” he grinned. “I’m looking forward to seeing them. Someone earlier was saying it will be a veteran team with young cheerleaders. You’ve got to keep your eye on the ball. I’m going to tell the boys to stay focussed on the cricket ball.” Chuckles all round.

By yesterday, the chuckles had been replaced by scowls. One journalist asked Shane Warne whether the cheerleaders were a distraction. “I don’t think the cheerleaders distract us,” he said with an admirably straight face. “We’re out here to play cricket. It’s part of the entertainment and that’s good. Young Jadeja [Ravindra Jadeja, sitting to Warne’s right] has been fielding in front of the cheerleaders on the fence and he enjoys it.” More chuckles.

Frankly, if the journalists are looking for condemnation, they are asking the wrong people. It might also be that the media are simply trying to create outrage where none exists. My experience so far has been that some sections of the crowd, mainly families and older generations, appear completely indifferent to the dancers (although this could be interpreted as quiet condemnation) while others, mainly young men, love them. It is a split that might just say something more profound about India’s own development.

In the States, cheerleaders are venerated as part of the sporting experience. In the UK, they are tolerated with faint embarrassment. When they’re performing in the north of England on a chilly night before a rugby league game, they even deserve our sympathy. But in India, they are unknown quantities and the unknown is always a threat. It will be instructive to see which way television viewers vote tonight.