A billion fans behind Indian 11
● “Eleven making the dreams of a billion,” reads an advert for a local bank.
Everyone has been trying to cash in on the Cricket World Cup, from the banks to phone companies, street sellers hawking fake shirts and the Indian ruling party, whose leader will attend today’s cricket World Cup final at a stadium named in his honour.
There’ll be a demonstration of Indian military might, with a fly-over by the Indian Air Force, an exercise that doesn’t sit well with everyone here. “I am not critical of this air show as it is planned to showcase India’s military capability before the world,” retired Air Vice Marshall Kapil Kak told the Telegraph newspaper. “What is worrisome is the politicisation of the armed forces in India which we have witnessed over these past few years to promote a certain political dispensation.”
It’s not just the Air Force. This World Cup has continuously felt like an event not to celebrate the sport, but the host nation and its batting superstar Virat Kohli almost to the detriment of all else — including the other participating nations.
Today’s final is set to confirm India’s dominance not just of this tournament — in which they are unbeaten — but over the sport as a whole.
It was because of the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s internal politicking that the schedule was announced only three months before the tournament started. That schedule has strongly favoured the host nation, for whom the only minor inconvenience would have been if Pakistan had been able to qualify for the semifinals.
And as poorly as Pakistan performed, their players weren’t helped by having their movements drastically restricted, as they were limited to their hotels — and in some cities only certain portions of those hotels.
For the semifinals, India played their match in Mumbai, just over an hour away from Ahmedabad, where the final will be played. Australia meanwhile had double the travelling time to get there from Kolkata and one day less to prepare for the final.
It will also be played on a pitch that will suit what the host nation wants.
India’s cricket authorities won’t care of course. They are the sport’s wealthiest and the other nations, including England and Australia, which have relative financial stability, need the economic boost that matches against India provide.
Cricket South Africa is one of those, with the eight-match tour by the Indian team in December/January set to add up to R700million to CSA’s coffers. No one can afford to upset India — a lesson CSA learned a decade ago, when Haroon Lorgat was still CEO.
Australia may be five-time winners of the World Cup, but they are underdogs for today’s clash. Their weakness against spin, once again demonstrated by South Africa in that riveting semifinal, will be preyed upon by the Indians, with the pitch for the final expected to be low and slow. The Australians
Today’s final is set to confirm India’s dominance not just of this tournament but over the sport as a whole
will have anticipated that, and indeed experienced it earlier in the tournament when losing by six wickets in the round-robin match in Chennai.
On that occasion India used three spinners, who took six wickets between them and conceded 104 runs in 30 overs.
An Indian victory will delight the 1.43 billion populace, it may even give Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who apparently will circumnavigate the outfield on a jazzed up golf cart, a boost ahead of next year’s general election.
However, it will leave cricket beholden even more to a single master, which has tightened its financial grip on the game and will continue to do so for years to come.