Cricket vs football

Cricket has taken a beating as football becomes the viewers' choice.
Cricket,which had been the undisputed king of sports in India all these years,has taken a back seat,specially during the ongoing FIFA matches. So much so,that as Siddhartha Mukherjee,director communications,TAM Media Research,Mumbai reveals,"In the metros,the viewership for soccer is three times more than cricket right now."
What's led cricket to take such a beating? Is it to do with the recent controversies,high pressure and expectations and even the cricket board playing with the morale and confidence of the players?
While former cricketer Kapil Dev thinks it's the media that's been giving a lot of attention to football that has generated so much of interest in the game,his contemporary Madan Lal too feels that "since football is big across the world these days,people in our country too have become equally interested.And this is a good sign --people becoming interested in other games too."
What had hitherto affected the interest in other sports,he feels,was "something lacking in the vision of their control boards. They need to work towards creating facilities and infrastructure so that youngsters are inspired enough to take up these sports seriously."
Adman Dilip Cherian's view on why football is seeing a tremendous popularity surge is because,"India is not part of FIFA. If it was,it would have been out in the initial rounds --that's when the blame game would have started. And the entire focus would have been on that."
The second reason,according to him,is the huge viewership among women "who find it visually appealing with all its sweat and action. And the fact that it's just 90 minutes and throws up instantaneous results." Cricket,he feels,is losing out because "of the politics. People are losing their faith in the entire selection process and the game too. They realise that it's not just the game but also which camp you're in."
kanpur.times@timesgroup.com