ONLY a few days remain before the 10th ICC Cricket World Cup kicks off in Dhaka with India facing Bangladesh on Feb 19, but the ruling politicians show no sign of vacating the prime time news slot for cricket-crazy fans.
Not a day passes without a fresh scam making the headlines.
In a nation where cricket is the new religion, the skullduggery of politicians and bureaucrats still hogs the headlines.
The latest scam concerns the arbitrary sale of S-Band spectrum to a private company floated by former scientists of the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro).
The one-sided agreement embarrassed the prime minister since he was the minister in charge of Isro.
Now, post-haste, the government is devising ways to abrogate the agreement.
The authoritative national daily The Hindu in its leader of Feb 10 said: “Every well-informed schoolchild knows this is rising India’s Age of Uninterrupted Scams. No government before the present United Progressive Alliance regime has had to deal with such a dizzying succession of exposes of corruption scandals.”
But every schoolchild, well-informed or otherwise, knows that the quadrennial feast of world-class cricket is set to begin soon.
And for a month-and-a-half he would either stay glued to his television set or, if he is fortunate, see live action in the stadium nearest to his home town.
With Pakistan ruled out as a venue due to heightened security concerns, India is set to stage the majority of the 49 matches in the latest competition, which sees Sri Lanka and Bangladesh as joint hosts.
However, despite the proximity of the Cup, the normal day news flow has diverted public attention from the cricket world’s biggest competition.
Despite huge corporate money riding on the Cup, what with advertisers paying through their nose for commercial time during the live telecast of matches, thus far there is only muted interest in the subcontinent’s biggest sports event.
Television channels and sports pages of newspapers are most valiantly trying to kick up a frenzy.
Former cricket greats are featured regularly. They go nostalgic over previous Cups wins and losses. But, truly, the nation has yet to catch Cup fever.
Without doubt, India believe that they are the strongest contenders to lift the glittering trophy this year.
In 1983, Kapil Dev’s Devils beat the West Indies in an edge-of-the-seat contest.
That was the maiden Cup victory for India.
Since then world cricket in general, and Indian cricket in particular, had undergone a sea-change.
India has emerged as a major cricketing power, with the balance shifting to the sub-continent from the English-Australian duopoly.
Also, even as the popularity of cricket in the Indian sub-continent has grown exponentially in recent decades, the old cricket playing nations such as England, Australia, and South Africa, have seen diminishing spectator interest.
Indeed, these three countries look forward to hosting teams from the Indian sub-continent since it helps them generate revenue through ticket sales to people such as Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi, to name a few.
Of course, the sport of cricket itself has transformed beyond recognition since 1983.
The popularity of the game also means more pressure on the team. Every time a player fails to perform, there is a shrill demand for his ouster.
Since the pool of talent from which the national team is drawn has expanded vastly in recent years, barring the old reliable Sachin Tendulkar, no player can take his place for granted.
This was not so till the 80s. In those bleak times, even after a 5-0 wipe-out at the hands of, say, West Indies, the same side was certain to be fielded again.
Witness the way the erratic but brilliant batsman Yubraj Singh is being disciplined.
He was ignored for the Tests in recent months but inducted into the limited-over side.
For sure, one of the biggest changes in Indian cricket since the Cup victory 28 years ago is the advent of big money.
Players donning coloured clothes, or sporting logos of various companies on every bit of those clothes, or day-and-night matches under mega-lights or new rules of play are passé.
It is the million dollar fees which players earn for commercial endorsements and several million more that advertisers pay for the telecast rights to matches that have overwhelmed the world of cricket.
Cricket is now big business in India. Precisely because it is big business, the Supreme Court of India, in a far-reaching order last month, said that officials managing the sport would be covered under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The apex court reasoned that since the BCCI performed a public service in organising the popular sport its officials would be covered under the ambit of the anti-corruption law.
This would certainly inhibit cricket officials from wrong-doing.
Meanwhile, hosts India are in with a good chance to lift the Cup on April 2 in Mumbai.
Ricky Ponting’s Australia are on the decline. England are too erratic. West Indies are yet to regroup as a team. Pakistan have shot themselves in the foot. And most others can only be also-rans.
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