For Indian cricket, it is a time of soul seeking, rather than soul searching. Let me explain.

If the Lalit Modi affair bared the dark underbelly of Indian cricket, the Twenty20 World Cup fiasco bares the Indian cricketer, raising the questions:

Is the Indian cricketer the partying animal that also plays cricket? Or is he a Sachin Tendulkar-esque player who carries his heart on his sleeve and plays for national pride?

Let’s examine the questions, since the rout in the Caribbean has let loose a lot of wailing.

If you heard some of the lament, including ones by the Indian captain M S Dhoni, you might want to ban IPL-style post-match parties. Some others would want an end to the IPL itself because it apparently places club loyalties above that to the country. We should know better not to do either. Such knee-jerk reactions rarely bring lessons of lasting value.

It is not the first time in Indian cricket’s history that a losing team has faced an avalanche of criticism. It might seem distant, given the whirlwind pace at which cricket is played out in recent years, but one would surely recall the disastrous losses in the last World Cup, also in the Caribbean. There were the same late night parties and fitness levels that were blamed, with captain Saurav Ganguly bearing the brunt of the criticism.

So, how is it different this time around?

It is different because the stunning success of IPL marks a clear structural, and probably irreversible, shift in the game, at least for the Indian cricketers. Consequently, old ways of dealing with catastrophic losses may no longer work. Forget the lament of the oldtimers, the game is not what it used to be even three years ago. In a very short period of time, cricket has gone from being a lucrative game to a filthy rich game, thanks to the IPL.  Also, the IPL has transformed cricket from a competitive sport to a game of entertainment.

We might demand impossible things from our cricketers but it is important to realize that many young cricketers are happy with this form of cricket. The likes of Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Saurav Ganguly may play in the IPL but their heart is in the more competitive forms of the game and they seem to find great joy when playing for the country. But to many newer youngsters, IPL is the real thing and maybe even the only thing of the future. Who is to blame them for it?

Over time, many cricketers might be able to straddle both, perhaps even with a measure of success. But right now, a groggy Charlie Singh, to name a fictitious cricketer, is not the force he could be – or even wants to be – when he takes the field in a competitive tournament such as the World Cup.

As for seeking the soul of BCCI, wouldn’t it be better to wait on the outcome of the Modi affair?