http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/cricket/article1568340.ece
Chappell and Dravid feel the heat as fans take to streets
Dramatic scenes of national mourning were played out across India at the weekend by cricket fans distraught and angry at the performance of their team in the World Cup.
After the 69-run defeat by Sri Lanka on Friday, marking India’s worst World Cup campaign in 28 years and their subsequent exit from the tournament, fans took to the streets burning effigies of the multi-millionaire players they once worshipped.
Posters of Sachin Tendulkar, the greatest batsman of his generation but one fast falling from his pedestal as the premier national hero, were defaced and security was beefed up at his Bombay residence, where fans waved placards reading “Down with Sachin Tendulkar” and “Indian cricket team, shame on you”.
Extra guards were also placed outside the homes of Harbhajan Singh, Sourav Ganguly, Mahendra Dhoni and Rahul Dravid, who may now lose the captaincy. Police said fans had thrown stones at Zaheer Khan’s restaurant in Poona in a recurrence of the vandalism that followed a five-wicket upset loss to Bangladesh on March 17.
Lookalikes of the players, previously cheered by fans at promotional events, have gone into hiding. Hotels and restaurants hastily withdrew from the menu dishes and drinks named after players such as the Dhoni Sixer and Dravid the Dependable.
In Indore, fans marched in a mock funeral for Indian cricket and there were reports of at least two deaths. Police said Mahadeb Sarkar, a 25-year-old farmer in West Bengal, hung himself after India’s loss to Sri Lanka and an argument with his wife.
She also tried to kill herself but was saved when the rope snapped. In Hyderabad, a 28-year-old man died of a heart attack after watching the match at his home.
The extreme reactions underline the passion with which India follows cricket and the outrage felt by supporters that a team ranked as the second favourites at the outset failed even to make the Super Eights stage of the tournament.
“Shocked India erupts in Anger” was the front-page headline in yesterday’s Hindustan Times. A poll carried out by the Delhi-based newspaper found 62 per cent of people agreeing that Dravid should be dismissed and 66 per cent calling for Greg Chappell to lose his job as head coach.
News channels conducted a rolling inquest into the failure, while advertisers and sponsors counted the cost of India’s premature exit.
Audiences in cricket’s biggest television market have dropped by nearly 40 per cent and analysts expect advertisers to try to renegotiate expensive broadcast deals that were predicated on India playing nine matches rather than three. Pepsi, one of the ICC’s four global sponsors, has decided to pull its India campaign altogether.
That India’s cricketers are so well paid has only served to heighten the national anger. Most players earn at least $1 million (about £510,000) a year from endorsements alone and many fans feel the team were too focused on commercial gain.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has also come in for criticism after sealing the most lucrative TV rights deal in world cricket last year but failing to nurture the next generation of players.
On top of a $1 billion rights deal, the BCCI sold the team’s kit sponsorship to Nike for $135.6 million, eclipsing the sum the US sports goods company pays annually to Manchester United, Juventus or the Brazil football team.
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What the feck is all that about?
Chappell and Dravid feel the heat as fans take to streets
Dramatic scenes of national mourning were played out across India at the weekend by cricket fans distraught and angry at the performance of their team in the World Cup.
After the 69-run defeat by Sri Lanka on Friday, marking India’s worst World Cup campaign in 28 years and their subsequent exit from the tournament, fans took to the streets burning effigies of the multi-millionaire players they once worshipped.
Posters of Sachin Tendulkar, the greatest batsman of his generation but one fast falling from his pedestal as the premier national hero, were defaced and security was beefed up at his Bombay residence, where fans waved placards reading “Down with Sachin Tendulkar” and “Indian cricket team, shame on you”.
Extra guards were also placed outside the homes of Harbhajan Singh, Sourav Ganguly, Mahendra Dhoni and Rahul Dravid, who may now lose the captaincy. Police said fans had thrown stones at Zaheer Khan’s restaurant in Poona in a recurrence of the vandalism that followed a five-wicket upset loss to Bangladesh on March 17.
Lookalikes of the players, previously cheered by fans at promotional events, have gone into hiding. Hotels and restaurants hastily withdrew from the menu dishes and drinks named after players such as the Dhoni Sixer and Dravid the Dependable.
In Indore, fans marched in a mock funeral for Indian cricket and there were reports of at least two deaths. Police said Mahadeb Sarkar, a 25-year-old farmer in West Bengal, hung himself after India’s loss to Sri Lanka and an argument with his wife.
She also tried to kill herself but was saved when the rope snapped. In Hyderabad, a 28-year-old man died of a heart attack after watching the match at his home.
The extreme reactions underline the passion with which India follows cricket and the outrage felt by supporters that a team ranked as the second favourites at the outset failed even to make the Super Eights stage of the tournament.
“Shocked India erupts in Anger” was the front-page headline in yesterday’s Hindustan Times. A poll carried out by the Delhi-based newspaper found 62 per cent of people agreeing that Dravid should be dismissed and 66 per cent calling for Greg Chappell to lose his job as head coach.
News channels conducted a rolling inquest into the failure, while advertisers and sponsors counted the cost of India’s premature exit.
Audiences in cricket’s biggest television market have dropped by nearly 40 per cent and analysts expect advertisers to try to renegotiate expensive broadcast deals that were predicated on India playing nine matches rather than three. Pepsi, one of the ICC’s four global sponsors, has decided to pull its India campaign altogether.
That India’s cricketers are so well paid has only served to heighten the national anger. Most players earn at least $1 million (about £510,000) a year from endorsements alone and many fans feel the team were too focused on commercial gain.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has also come in for criticism after sealing the most lucrative TV rights deal in world cricket last year but failing to nurture the next generation of players.
On top of a $1 billion rights deal, the BCCI sold the team’s kit sponsorship to Nike for $135.6 million, eclipsing the sum the US sports goods company pays annually to Manchester United, Juventus or the Brazil football team.
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What the feck is all that about?
so true....