With all the hype and hoopla surrounding the world cup, I thought it appropriate that the first blog be on this profound topic. Profound because, it is one topic apart from politics, which every Indian by and large has a strong opinion on.

A game invented by our erstwhile colonial masters, has become a manna from heaven vis a vis the dreary humdrum of normal daily life. But unlike scores of other pages on the net, devoted to discussing teams and their chances at the world cup, this article tries to explore the reasons for the popularity of the sport.

I think the first and foremost reason for the popularity of the sport is the reason that there are few sports in which the country can expect to compete and win against the best. Which is a negative reason in itself, but also a sort of window into the sorry state of affairs. Our country simply does not represent itself well in most of the other disciplines popular elsewhere, notably soccer, with the honourable exception of chess - which simply doesnt stand ground on the TV sweepstakes. I do think that Sourav Ganguly's shirt twirling antics at the Lords balcony was like the final act of proving  that we are better than our colonial masters.

Another main reason is the gladiatorial nature of the sport, which is more reinforced by the paranaphelia that a modern day batsman carries with him into play. Come to think of it the helmets, the guards, the pads and finally the bat..makes a modern day batsman resemble a gladiatior going into battle armed with his lance rather than a sportsman out there to enjoy himself.

Another key factor that comes to mind is that it is a very advertising friendly sport, with the very nature of the game allowing for advertising every three minutes throughout an entire day. What this does to the brand recall, stickiness of the brand, and the coffers of the cricket players and board is something we all know. Compare this with the 15 minutes that the advertisers get between halfs or 5 minutes between each quarter of sports like soccer and basketball any half brain advertiser would tell you cricket wins hands down. To them goes the credit for popularising and maintaining this sport.

Additionally, Indians have never been supreme athletes and without a formal regimen like the European countries, Cricket and its long pauses of inaction, are better suited than basketball or soccer with continous and non stop running.

It is no big surprise then that Cricket with all its adrenaline pumping, machismo continues to rule the hearts and minds of Indian men and women.