Indian fans protest after crushing defeat 17/02/03
Call for a boycott of player endorsed products
A number of Indian cricket fans, outraged by their team’s humiliating loss to Australia, are campaigning to punish Sourav Ganguly and his men by boycotting products they endorse.
An instant poll taken by the Hindi-language news channel Aaj Tak after India’s crushing defeat at the hands of the defending champions on Sunday found that more than 80 percent of respondents would stay away from products plugged by the “Men in Blue.”
And now Short Messaging Service (SMS) messages are circulating across India’s mobile telephone network urging an outright boycott.
The Times of India said some sponsors, sensing the public mood, have quietly withdrawn television commercials featuring the Indian cricketers, who have superstar status in this country of one billion-plus.
What worried the sponsors was a single SMS message sent across the country which said, “We make one promise today - not to buy any product which has Indian cricketers as models,” the daily said.
Two mobile phone service providers in eastern India said that while it was impossible to tell how many of the messages were sent, they had each recorded it hitting users’ inboxes 100,000 times.
India managed only 125 runs against Australia in their second match at the Cricket World Cup at Centurion Park after the batting line-up crumbled.
Most Indian batsmen fell to poor shots against Australia, with Ganguly and Virender Sehwag fishing way outside off stump, Rahul Dravid playing away from the body, and Mohammad Kaif and Dinesh Mongia playing uppishly.
India’s first match against minnows Netherlands too saw a colourless performance by the batsmen, with the Dutch team dismissing the former champions for 204.
On Sunday afternoon, dejected fans threw spent oil and black paint at Kaif’s house in the northern Indian city of Allahabad.
The front wall of Kaif’s three-storey house was blackened by a group of irate demonstrators, the cricketer’s elder brother Mohammad Saif told the Press Trust of India news agency.
Family members, who were asleep during the incident, have requested security cover.
In Ganguly’s home city of Calcutta, fans took out a mock Hindu funeral procession to mark what they said was the death of Indian cricket.
An effigy symbolising India’s national obsession was wrapped in white cloth and carried by mock pall bearers, who later consigned the “body” to flames amid Hindu religious chants.
“Indian cricket is dead after its humilating nine wicket defeat against Australia,” Amit De, a spokesman for the Calcutta Youth Federation, which had organised the protest told SAPA.
He blamed the Indian cricket board for the team’s dismal performance saying “The funeral procession marks the end of Indian cricket.” -SAPA
