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The countdown has started in real earnest. Just three weeks to go
before the World Cup unfolds in the Caribbean and everyone associated
with the game in India in some way or the other – from players to
marketing men, from journalists to the man in the street who follows
cricket with religious fervour – can’t wait for the action to start.
The hype that surrounds the Indian team is as usual in full flow and
will reach a frenzied state during the tournament. The mega event is
bound to generate tremendous excitement despite the odd hours in India
when the matches will be played. With the games scheduled to start
around 7 pm and go on till 3 am or thereabouts, countless millions will
automatically lose sleep and then they will lose further sleep whenever
the Indian campaign goes through fits and starts.
It wasn’t always like this. I well remember the inaugural World Cup in
England in 1975 which was no doubt followed with great interest. But
limited overs cricket was still in its infancy and had not yet caught
the public imagination in India. Test cricket was still the big draw.
There was hardly any hype in the media which then consisted of only
newspapers, magazines and radio. It was expected that the Indian team
with some luck would reach the semifinal placed as it was in the weaker
group along with England, New Zealand and East Africa. But the Indians
having just played two one day internationals against England in 1974
had still to come to terms with its intricacies and losing to New
Zealand in the crunch game they were eliminated at the group stage.
Four years later there was no change in the scenario except that India
lost all three matches in the group going down to a shock defeat to Sri
Lanka, then only an associate member. By 1979 the Indians had played in
a few more matches in New Zealand and Pakistan but the country itself
had not yet staged its first ODI. This came about only in November 1981
against England.
By 1983 things had changed a bit in the sense that the Indians after
playing many more matches in the interim period in Australia, New
Zealand, India, England, Pakistan and West Indies had gained valuable
experience. But no one gave them a ghost of chance in the third World
Cup and they were rated 66 to one outsiders. There was still no media
hype though television (read Doordarshan) by now had created quite an
impact.
The unexpected triumph of Kapil Devil’s however started a
revolution in various fields. The players had climbed cricket’s Mount
Everest and now bigger things were expected from them, the marketing
men saw the game as an ideal publicity promotional campaign and the
millions of followers now perceived much excitement in the shorter
version of the game. The cricketers always super stars now became prima
donnas. One day cricket had swept the nation and Test cricket had been
swept aside.
The hype really got into overdrive when the World Cup was staged for
the first time on the sub continent in 1987. India were the defending
champions, were listed as one of the favourites and the media and the
marketing strategists went overboard. Everywhere one went they were
reminded that the World Cup was round the corner or the World Cup was
on in the sub continent. And for the last 20 years the hype surrounding
the Indian team has increased manifold what with cable television
joining the rat race, there being many more newspapers and magazines
and now there are any number of cricket websites.
Marketing
strategies have taken on a new dimension and a cricket crazy nation
goes out of control particularly during an India – Pakistan match in
the World Cup. On the eve of the 1999 World Cup for example a national
news magazine ran a cover story entitled ``11 reasons why India will
win the World Cup.’’ This kind of lop sided coverage can do more harm
than good and the adverse effect it has had on the team thanks to
unreasonably high expectations has meant that the Indians have not been
able to perform up to their potential. Despite making the semifinals
twice and the final once there is little doubt that overall
disappointments have been in order through the last five competitions.
Perhaps another one is round the corner in the Caribbean but will our
frenzied followers ever learn and adopt a bit of self control in all
aspects?
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More Views by Partab Ramchand
