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Loading ...Surely we could find something for the England boys to advertise and market, and with it bring some british irony to the mix?
Sidebottom – Shampoo?
Hoggard – Yorkshire Puds…
and so on…
MS Dhoni on your crisps
By Alex Try 2 years ago, mid-November Add your comment below
One of the first things you notice as a foreigner in India is how readily complete strangers are willing to strike up probing conversations with you. When I explain I’m following England’s cricket tour they often laugh before explaining that their country is “cricket crazy” – as if they are somehow detached from it all. This impartiality usually passes within minutes and they fall to musing about the skiddy medium pace they bowled as a teenager, or the intricacies of Bhagwat Chandrasekhar’s action. Unwittingly they prove their own point.
On television there are several channels devoted to cricket: ICL, IPL repeats, highlights of old Indian ODI’s – on one I found a repeat of the Sussex-Lancashire C&G trophy final from a couple of years ago. Advert breaks bring you Sachin Tendulkar promoting the Royal Bank of Scotland and Yuvraj Singh advertising Pepsi. If you fancy a snack, Mahendra Singh Dhoni appears on the front of your packet of crisps.
The money flowing through the Indian game makes much more sense when you are here. The advertisements and the endorsements are the physical representations of the billion dollar television deals which are made by companies desperate to show live International matches. For a cricket follower it is a strange experience – I’m both ecstatic at the amount of cricket I can consume, and uneasy at how entwined with money and markets it has become.
As for England and their practice matches – few people have been talking about them. Pietersen and his colleagues have been footnotes in the English-language papers as Sourav Ganguly and Ricky Ponting have dominated the front, back and opinion pages. India’s victory over Australia was felt viscerally by many I’ve spoken to: “We hate the Aussies”, a man from Mumbai told me, “we even danced in the streets when England won the Ashes”.
This focus away from the upcoming one-day matches might give England an advantage, especially with Tendulkar rested and Ishant Sharma injured for the beginning of the series. This being said, modern cricketers should be accustomed to the seamless transition between different tours and contrasting forms of the game. England will have to start well against a country riding on the crest of a wave.
Alex Try is in India following England’s tour. Connection willing, he’ll be blogging for The Corridor
Tags: england-in-india, india, mahendra singh dhoni |
11 Responses to “MS Dhoni on your crisps”
November 13th, 2008 at 4.45 pm
November 13th, 2008 at 7.54 pm
Pietersen – Biltong
Flintoff – Beer
November 13th, 2008 at 11.50 pm
I hear the England players endorse Murry Mints pretty heavily!
Picture of Marcus Trescosthick shining a cricket ball on the packet…
November 14th, 2008 at 3.03 am
Michael Vaughan and Andrew Flintoff had done a TV commercial for Kingfisher beer a couple of years ago. It was quite hilarious, actually. Can’t find the video for it online, though. Damn.
November 14th, 2008 at 10.54 am
best one was
sreesanth for ayurvedic oil to keep your mind cool
November 14th, 2008 at 12.26 pm
Dhoni has the highest number of endorsements right now alongwith ShahRukh Khan.But who’s alex been mingling with-people talking about B.S. Chandrashekhar action,’we danced when england won the ashes’.50 year olds and some whackos I guess.
I can safely assure you that we don’t hate australia/australians.Sales of fosters is never a problem.
Vaughan and Flintoff appeared in an ad for KingFisher.It was hilarious.
English fans might be amused when I say that not only old cricket,domestic action of every country is televised.Nobody watches it,but its televised nevertheless.Forget that-gymnastics,baseball,american football,X-games,billiards,snooker,even poker but mainly the EPL is televised.
PS.The EPL gets higher ratings than most One Days even.
So don’t for a moment believe the oriental hyperbole.We like cricket but I don’t have many friends who’re hooked to the game like me.
November 14th, 2008 at 12.34 pm
But everyone watched the IPL.That I can confirm.
Raz:Where’s sreesanth??Where’d he go??
November 14th, 2008 at 1.04 pm
sunny
dhoni didn’t like him he had to go
November 14th, 2008 at 3.26 pm
EPL has higher rating than one dayers? gimme a break! although i would love that to happen … that is certainly not the truth…. have u ever lived in a hostel?…. i saw a football fanatic beaten up last year coz he wanted to watch football instead of some dead rubber… in mumbai too the things arent too different!
November 14th, 2008 at 5.13 pm
Even kenya vs scotland is better than EPL. La Liga is an altogether different matter though.
November 15th, 2008 at 4.06 pm
blohdyhell,it is a fact.Just coz some idiot got beat up in a hostel that doesn’t change anything.In the metros EPL is watched more than most ODI’s & almost all tests.IPL is anotyher matter.
TAM ratings will prove my point.NOt just football F-1 races get even higher ratings.
Students stay up till 2 even 3 in the night to watch EPL.Almost noone watches cricket in my college.I’m an exception.But liek I said ,everyone watched IPL .
Me,I watched quite a few games but got bored & slept during the semi-finals & finals too.
Raj,I agree.But TRP’s are TRP’s.You can’t challenge facts.
Don’t forget the girls as well,girls don’t really watch test or ODI’s.Football,yes.
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