Midnight carnival

Like most cricket fans in India, I can squat in front of a TV and watch a day-night match for seven hours nonstop. And this is when I8217;m not even a serious cricket enthusiast. I8217;m not clear on what the difference between Test and one-day cricket rests, nor can I tell when a bowler is an off-spinner or medium-paced. However, this lack of basic knowledge hasn8217;t dampened my enthusiasm for the game. What has, are the wretchedly inconvenient timings for the world cup matches in the West Indies.

Unless you8217;re unemployed or working in a BPO on the graveyard shift, who can watch a match till 3 am on a weeknight? It makes no sense to watch half a match, which is exactly what I did when the West Indies played Pakistan three days ago. I fell asleep trying to guess who would win. Pubs and bars in Delhi, all enthusiastically geared up with big screens and great deals during the games bear a haunted look, because they don8217;t have permits to serve alcohol later than midnight. More than a billion people in the Indian sub-continent will watch the World Cup on TV this March, and this is not counting the Indians and Pakistanis in the US and Europe. Corresponding figures for the West Indies are far lower. Maximum sponsorship for cricket comes from India, yet we8217;re deprived of seeing the matches at a decent hour. No wonder, World Cup fever is far from hitting a crescendo in India yet and chances are it8217;ll only pick up if the team does really well. Besides absolute fanatics, no regular person will think it worth his while to stay bleary-eyed for over a month to cheer a losing team. And let8217;s face it, we may enjoy the game, but if India8217;s out of it, the fun is over.

Most of the viewers for this World Cup seem to be teenagers studying for their boards. I know one 17-year-old whose parents think he8217;s cramming late night. Actually, he8217;s chomping on chips and watching the world cup on mute while his folks sleep. I8217;m looking forward to staying awake for tonight8217;s match when India take on Bangladesh. It8217;s Saturday night, after all. And maybe I8217;ll take a friend8217;s advice: 8220;Start betting. That8217;s the only way to remain involved.8221;