The Delhi Commonwealth Games might have got past organizers’ mismanagement, Delhi’s torrential rains, dengue fever and a global backlash, but it has one last frontier to conquer : India’s love for cricket. This is a frontier which many failed to conquer.
India is playing Australia (in India) for a Test series. Aah Test match! Yawn! That used to be the case. But not anymore. Especially when these two teams are playing. India-Australia Test matches, by now, have surpassed the popularity of the Ashes or the India-Pakistan matches. The ashes and India-Pakistan matches are all hype and no substance but India-Australia matches are never short of substance. The match went down to the wire. This is not your regular 20-20 or 50-50. It’s a five-day Test match which went to the last two balls to decide the winner. This is a once in a lifetime match and the Indian cricket team chose this day to do that.
The Commonwealth Games, which shed most of its shame with its opening extravaganza, has to compete with India’s national obsession. India’s news coverage has reflected this. The channels managed to give India’s Test win a top priority. The second top story of the day is the wrestling gold for India by Ravinder Singh.
If you are not convinced, then do a random check tomorrow morning with these two questions to any bystander.
- How many medals did India win yesterday?
- How much did Laxman score? If that is answered, then the next question would be in how many balls?
The Hindustan Times is running an ad campaign to think beyond cricket. But is it time to think beyond cricket? Can the Commonwealth Games do that? Will CWG be known for anything beyond the $8m helium balloon?
