Cricket World Cup Fever

The most prestigious event in the game of cricket is closing in as we speak. It’s an opportunity that comes every 4 years to earn the bragging right for the next 4 years. There will be 16 nations fighting for the accolade. Yes, the Cricket World Cup is less than a month away.

The World Cup will bring together the fans all around the world. Countries like India will virtually be at a stand still as their team progress in the tournament. People will forget about their problems, issues; even the diversity of the country or the political turmoil within the country will be excused for some time. The country will focus on the 11 warriors that are fighting for the cup. One billion people will be unified by this event; each fan hoping for the same result, each cricket lover praying for the same team; for once, you can feel the unity in diversity. Here are few glimpses of cricket in India.

People all over the country try to catch the action through various media

Crazy fans after the 1983 victory at lords

Fans performing Pooja of Indian Players for good wishes at the World Cup

Lots of things change before and after the World Cup; some are good, others are bad. Here are few things that you can expect to change in India. The country will begin honing their knowledge about the game, its history and statistics. Everyone will be expected to know the basics like the team members, the schedule, etc.

Work Place:
At work, you will see colleagues huddling near the water cooler to discuss the proceedings. They will analyze the games, debate and finally end the discussion with a “who cares!!” attitude. However, they all care and they all know it. Days before the world cup starts, people will start downloading Desktop Scoreboard. They want to be a part of the action all the time. Most visited websites will be cricinfo.com or espnstar.com. Colleagues will bet on the next game and discuss the strategy that the team should apply. Every meeting will begin with a short Ice breaker with the topic of previous day’s game.

Commuters:
It is not just the office space that is filled with the cricket enthusiasts; the commuters will be equally engrossed in the discussions. Trains and buses will share the same theme. People will discuss the game with a stranger sitting beside them. People will become more social towards these strangers. You will find 20-30 people crowding around a single soul with a transistor or mobile with a web access. For every 4 or 6 scored by the home team or a wicket of opposition, there will a huge roar and cheer, high fives, etc. The long tiring journey to and from work will become a prime time for hot topic of cricket.

Streets:
So what about the streets? Well, you will find all kinds of gadgets, clothes, stickers, posters of the home team. Kids and grown ups will be interested in the buy. This is a market that has a small window of 5-6 months in 4 years but still makes good profit. On a regular day, you will be overwhelmed with the number of people on the streets. However, during the cricket game, the same street will be haunted. It is incredible and you can’t help wondering how so many (and I mean thousands of people) can vanish in a matter of hours and remain so for the next 8 hours. During off hours i.e. hours when no game is played, you will see kids assembling on the streets for their own mini world cup.

Television:
The media is all over the place with cricket news. All News channels change the sequence of their Prime Time News. For the next 1.5 months, Sports will gain the top spot on every New Channel. Analysis, predictions, gossips, etc will be discussed over every single media channel. However, in this whole change of priorities, you will see that other TV channels will suffer substantially. Channels that telecast Serials, Soap Operas, movies etc are hit like a small island is hit with an unexpected hurricane. The rating for these channels will plunge in no time resulting in drop in market value.

Family:
Topic of discussion in every home will be cricket. This can be a healthy argument between father and son who will agree on the topic for a change. It can also be a quarrel between husband and wife as one of them forget an important date/ task (mostly it would be the forgetful husband).

Finally, as an avid fan of cricket, I myself will fall under most of these categories. The next couple of months are going to be exciting as well as tense for me. I expect wins and losses, triumph and heart breaks and all that will affect me. You will find me disappointed, mad and even cursing at the television or the computer. I will be short tempered or overly happy. However, please do not worry as I am just bothered by the epidemic that hits a lot of Cricket Lovers all over the world and it is called “The Cricket World Cup Fever”.