The newspapers are running columns and pages of it. The news channels are devoting tens of minutes (and millions of rupees) to assemble the stars. The corporates are unleashing their merchandise and deals to time with the opening, to recreate the spirit of 1983. But is anybody really interested in the 2011 World Cup?
Are you interested in the World Cup? Does it excite you one bit?
The Test match batsman Rahul Dravid says that although the tournament begins on February 19, it gets serious only a month or more later when the knockout stage begins. In other words, much of what precedes it is bunk. The veteran cricket writer Suresh Menon writes: “I am not getting a sense of any buzz…. I wonder if there is actually fan fatigue.”
BBC online news India correspondent Soutik Biswas says:
“Last week, I travelled through Uttar Pradesh which has sent a number of cricketers to the national team. I found little enthusiasm about the event among the locals and spotted no billboards or fan hoardings of cricket stars.The electronics shop owner in my Delhi suburb says there has been no significant surge in TV sales – typically fans migrate to bigger, wide-screen sets before such a major sporting event – despite a high-definition telecast of the event for the first time.”
So, seriously, has the World Cup lost its charm? Is it logout-shutdown-exit for the 50-over format against its 20-over cousin? Or will “Cup Fever”, the usual cliche of headline writers, catch on when, to use the cliche of commentators, “the first ball is bowled”?
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churumuri 
There will be a buzz in the first week. And then it will die down till the knock-out phase when again it will be created.
The first round of matches are largely irrelevant. All the big teams will qualify (except possibly Pakistan…. they anyway play a different game than Cricket). Lousy format !!
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Clearly, the reporters who write about three articles a week on how they no longer feel a buzz about the world cup still do.
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1. How can you call it a world cup when hardly a handful of countries play it?
2. It is a game dependent on many factors other than skill like the following:
a) toss of the coin
b) pitch
c) wind
d) moisture
e) heat
I can’t think of any other sport which has the above ‘five luck’ factors. Teams have won and lost because of the various variations in the a b c d e factors.
How can a game excite you, when you know skill is just another factor in winning the matches and NOT THE ONLY factor – unlike other sports?
3. Besides, cricket is the only team game which allows you to be a slouch and not work up a sweat at all. It is perhaps the only team game where 90% of the batting team is always plonked comfortably in plush pavilion seats. In other team games, the entire team is always on the move – fast, action packed and sweaty.
How can such a slow game be exciting, let alone World Cup?
4. Cricket is riven with contradictions. You have countries which are not qualified to play test cricket actually playing in the world cup! ! ! ! We can theoretically have a world cup champion which is not eligible to play test cricket. How weird can it get?
5. Cricket has still not found its true personality. It has a schizophrenic avataar. Test cricket was found to be too long, too dull, – therefore one day cricket came into being, which too was found to be too long, too dull – which made way for 20-20. In many ways, cricket is still evolving – or in other words, primitive!
6. What is worse is that cricket is heavily dependent on a crutch called technology. Few other games leave so much room for doubt. In olden days, without technology, poor decisions ruled the roost. It was humanely impossible to judge run outs, lbws and close catches. Today, even with cameras, it is difficult to judge many forms of dismissal. Such wrong decisions by the umpires can virtually decide which way the game can swing – which is blatantly unfair.
7. In cricket you can actually be fat – From David Boon To Inzaman Ul Haq to our own Pawar. Even the apparently fit cricketers hide layers of fat beneath their shirts. This kind of fat is just not possible in hockey or football. How can fat people be an exciting spectacle?
8. Which other game can you think of which goes on for five (yawn)days? Or even a whole day? Jeez!
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With the advent of T20, ODI is boring and out of place, should be scrapped.
The world cup does not excite at all and this is due to the overkill of cricket. As it is, our cricketers are over hyped.
Lets have two versions, Tests – for the Connoisseur and T20 for all others!
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Overkill mate…
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Even Sharad Pawar looks bored and that means something totally wrong with WC. The TV channels are repeating ad nausem on 1983 world cup, wonder the Aussies are ever bothered about their hattrick of victories. The only ones who are hyper are Ramachandra Guha and all the ex -cricketers who are still milking money.. on 1983 cup.Time to move on..
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yes..i do agree with it that WC is not creating any euphoria this time. I think, after repeated scams and match fixings, these days audience and cricket lovers have become a bit matured to not to believe all what they see on the ground. Again, the recent years of scam in all other walk of life have also discouraged people from hero worship in any field including cricket. So, it might be a reason that people are not showing their interest.
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Simple – you should call yourself “simplistic” or better still, “epic fail”.
Every outdoor sport has exogenous factors associated with it….swalpa iti miti irli saar
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The world cup “buzz” is truly on only on ESPN Star Sports. Yesterday, they were showing live telecast of the India-NZ warm-up match on all their three channels !!
The drone of MMS news conference and the chatterati was more interesting ;-) .
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IF India wins the world cup, you know what will happen?! Dhoni and Sachin will be awarded Bharata Ratna, the Man of the Series will be awarded Kirti Chakra, Others will be awarded Ashoka Chakra, Param Vir Chakra. The officials will be awarded Padmas. Each player will be taken to the nearest bank and will be handed over a golden key to the Strong Room with the inscription “It is all yours” sir. Each player will be given a golden bat and diamond ball. All the State governments will offer a palace in the heart of the city to each of the cricketers in every state. Cricket will be declared as National Game. So on so forth…….. USA, Germany, Japan etc. will enter into cricketing field.
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An important reason for a lack of buzz is that the broadcasters have disgusted the serious viewer.
I gave up watching cricket on TV three years ago – it had stopped being fun for a long time, but 2008 onwards it ceased even being a decent source of entertainment. The greedy broadcasters and ICC, the sleeping guardian of the game have together worked hard to ensure that viewers are put-off as much as possible, thanks to a slew of advertisements. Last year SET MAX (the broadcaster of the muck-filled, scandalous IPL tournament) violated one of the most sacred experiences of the viewer: the space between the deliveries, by converting it into air-time to broadcast advertisements. This year, TEN Sports went one step ahead by cramming the screen with as many floater ad-boxes as possible, when the ball was live. These steps, along with a steady decline in the quality of commentary (I shudder every time when cliché-spewing machines like Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri hold the mike), makes the experience a disgusting one.
Therefore, I doubt I’ll be watching much of the World Cup this year, even though its broadcaster, ESPN-Star, is yet to completely bow to the demands of selling every available slice of air-time and every pixel on the screen.
What is it with the Indian media that makes it sell the ? Print newspapers sell their editorial space and disguise news as advertisements, journalists sell their ethics, and cricket channels sell their live-space?
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What does the author want? Switch on the TV 3 days before the match starts? Or take out processions on streets?
People will watch world cup, come what may.
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@Bhushan
I hear you – watching cricket is more of a pain than pleasure and you are absolutely right about the former cricketers-turned-commentators – they make you wince. One would think they would spend more time brushing up their commentary skills to not sound so lame.
Ad-breaks even upto the bowler’s run-up to the crease….Cricket has become such a whore to its sponsors- it is depressing.
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