Yuvraj feels an alien in Mumbai: IPL and the rise of sub-nationalism in India

By John Cheeran
Why does Yuvraj Singh, the captain of Kings XI Punjab, losing self control?
Even after that tense, nerve-wracking one-run win over Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai? Apparently Yuvraj is peeved at Mumbai crowd’s partisan attitude and refusal to appreciate his side’s glorious efforts on the field to script a pulsating win.
That had Yuvraj burst out after the match “Thank you Mumbai for supporting us. But you should remember that some of our boys from Punjab do play for India.”
Of course Yuvraj was stung and it shows he was not prepared for the internecine nature of the Indian Premier League.
In quite contrast was the approach of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the captain of Chennai Super Kings after playing at Wankhede Stadium during the IPL. When asked about crowd’s jeers Dhoni was cool enough to put things in perspective by saying: “That does not matter.. I’m sure they will cheer me when I’m playing for India.”
No wonder then that this cool Singh has overtaken that haughty Prince to the Indian national team’s captaincy.
It is great to know that Mumbaikars are solidly behind their city team. It is not easy to build the emotional quotient for a newly launched brand and Mumbai Indians can take heart from this fact though they lost a golden chance to move into the semifinals by that suicidal act of five run outs to gift win to Punjab.
And by the way, is there a danger that the deep-rooted parochialism will find its outlets in the theatre of Indian Premier League?
The brand buidling centred around around cities may give rise to a kind of sub-nationalism that India has not seen so far.
Who says sport unites men and women?