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Saturday, February 5, 2011

Endorsements keeps World Cup away from Team India

Kohli, Harbhajan, Dnoni, Sehwag and Raina
Indian cricket lovers are praying for the Team India to win the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 but players are not that keen to win the World Cup instead they are interested in making money and more money. India returned from South Africa on 7th January and they had lot of time on their hand  till January 31st to fulfill their endorsement commitments so that from February onwards they start their preparations for the World Cup. BCCI and coach Gary Kirsten declared the dates of conditioning camp in Bengaluru and that was starting from 1st week of the February. BCCI also announced the guidelines for the conditioning camp and asked the players not to take part in any endorsement campaigns or shoots from February onwards but players put pressure on the BCCI and forced to delay the conditioning camp till 9th February. Now players will be busy in shooting advertisements till 8th February.


These ad shootings will definitely take the big toll on fitness of all the players and I will not be surprised if players will look tired and struggling with the injuries on the field in World Cup. Players will spend only 4 days in conditioning camp because  India have to play their 1st practice match on 13th and I must say 4 days is very little time to prepare for the mega-event like World Cup. All players including captain Dhoni are busy in shooting right now and I don't know how they will going to perform in this World Cup because we have seen in the many events in past where players continued their endorsement shooting till the start of mega-event and that resulted into their debacle. After draining South African tour, Indian players needed good rest so that they can refresh themselves for the World Cup but instead of doing rest and healing injuries they started doing shootings and campaigns which will put extra stress on their bodies. 

Virat Kohli
However, there is one player who is exception among all these Indian players and that is our 'God of Cricket' Sachin Tendulkar who is practicing for 3 to 4 hours daily in order to prepare for the World Cup. Sachin shot his last ad on 28th January and after that he said complete no to all his brands for any further shootings and campaigns. Sachin knows the importance of World Cup and he decided much earlier that he will concentrate on preparation for World Cup from February 1st and executed his plans well. I feel other Indian players must learn from Sachin Tendulkar how to balance cricket and other activities. This is why Sachin Tendulkar is 'God of Cricket' and performing well even after spending 21 years in International Cricket.

I hope our players understand the feelings of our countrymen and concentrate on preparation for the World Cup rather than running after money. They have to understand that these brands and endorsements  is coming to them because of cricket and if they neglect cricket then these brands and endorsements will neglect them. 

Lastly, the way our players have prioritize their endorsements and neglected preparations for the World Cup, I feel India  have no chance of winning the World Cup this time also due to lack of preparations.

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