The cut throat competition began in mid-February featuring 14 teams from the countries around the globe competing in 49 matches.
India; a country in which cricket is perceived as a religion and the World Cup is like a festivity was all set to lift the cup all over again. Amidst the hashtags like #WeWon’tGiveItback #EkCupAurHoJaye which were trending in the world of Twitter; unfortunately, to the much dismay of the people, India was knocked out by a fairly strong contender; Australia on Thursday.
Not much to the surprise, of the Indian cricket fans, the anticipated rivalry with Pakistan, the India- Pakistan match in Adelaide had a spectatorship of some 288 Million Indians. The live viewers spent around $31 Million on hotel rooms.
Between the whooping ticket sales; the sponsorships and the TV ads combined organizers in Australia and New Zealand believed to have made a profit of more than $200 million according to BBC.
One of the most viewed channels during the World Cup, Star Sports, broadcasts ads and thus earned huge revenues. The Indian Government in turn got benefitted in disguise of the taxes revenues.
Not to ignore, the incessant expenditure on grubs, sales of pizzas, cola drinks, and cricket sporting equipments experienced a surge during the World Cup.
While the Indian cricket team failed to lift the cup this time, the Captain of the Indian Cricket Team, M.S Dhoni was much in the limelight and was applauded for his devotion on the field.
“The explanation for India’s underperformance is complicated; it has to do with malnutrition and poverty, as well as bad sports administration, and an elitist cricketing culture that favours batsmen over the hardworking attacking bowlers required to succeed abroad. But this giant shortcoming is clearly representative of India’s broader failure to harness the talents of its giant population. Indeed, its economic and cricketing failures are for partly the same reasons— albeit that, in both areas, India’s record is improving,” as written in the report.
Tags: ICC World Cup Cr