South Asian Business news and information

If you are a regular reader of this blog then you must have noticed that I have been writing mainly about World Cup Cricket 2007 here for the last 2 weeks. Honestly, at first, it was a tough decision for me to take (blogging about World Cup Cricket 2007 in a business blog). After 2 weeks, I do not regret the decision at all. Instead, I am very happy that I took that decision in the first place. Whenever, I turn on my TV set these days, in almost all the channels, all news and discussion programs I can see people talking about World Cup Cricket in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and even in Bangladesh.  

In India, World Cup Cricket fever is something more than passion for the game. It’s just cricket everywhere in India now.

Independent Online reported:

Fans are being rallied to the cause: an Indian victory 24 years after the country lifted the world cup in England in 1983.

Weavers are making saris with star batsman Saurav Ganguly's image in his home state of West Bengal, while in New Delhi, girls in short skirts and pompoms attract bemused stares from men as they do a jig, sponsored by corporates and media houses.

In the coastal state of Orissa, a young musician has shot a music video in which he attempts to play cricket underwater. Elsewhere, special prayers in temples are being held.

India's many TV channels, fighting for a slice of the viewership pie in a nation of 1,1 billion people, are tracking the build-up in minute detail as well as contributing to it.

"Good luck India, we need the World Cup," Bollywood action hero Akshay Kumar tells a TV news channel, which claims to be the "official network of the Indian cricket fan".

A rival channel asks viewers to send text messages as part of a contest to find the "craziest" cricket fan in India where national players are often more popular than Bollywood stars.

So, you can see that now everyone is eager to know about World Cup in India. They want India to shine and the people are with the national team. The large companies are with the Indian team too as they want to take advantage of the cricket craze now. So, from 13 March 2007, there will be just one thing in the mind of Indian people, World Cup Cricket 2007.