Indian cricket and the volatile Blue Billion

The months prior to India's World Cup campaign and the days after have witnessed extremities in emotions among the Indian public, including obscene displays of hatred towards the same players fans once worshipped. But is it justified? Is it fair to blame the sponsors and the players themselves who endorse products? Vir Sanghvi has a valid point by saying that perhaps it's time for all frenzied Indian fans to take a long, hard look at themselves and accept their gullibility instead of being so unforgiving to the cricketers.

It wasn't that we didn't love cricket in 1983. It just wasn't as big a business then. Andso, there was nothing like the 2007 hysteria those days. The unrealistic optimism surrounding our optimism this year was largely a creation of marketers who wanted to exploit our gullibility to flog their products.

Read the full piece in the Hindustan Times.