Take A Break - Indian Cricket Team style!

This time let numbers do the talking. Take a look here on the extraa in(come)nings of our star cricket players -

M.S Dhoni - 8 Crores!
Days spent in Advertising: 75 days
No of Brands - 15 [Reebok, Reliance Comm, TVS, GE Money, Siyarams, Brylcreem, Titan Sonata, Exide, Castrol, Pepsi, Seagram etc]

Rahul Dravid - 13 crores
Days spent in Advertising: 60 days
No of Brands - 12 [ Bank of Baroda, Max New York, Hutch, Britannia, Pepsi, Reebok, Citizen etc]

Virender Sehwag - 5 Crores
Days spent in Advertising: 40 days
No of Brands - 8 [ Adidas, Pepsi, Boost, Hero Honda, Sahara, Britannia]

Yuvraj Singh - 8 Crore
Days spent in Advertising: 40 days
No of Brands - 8 [Microsoft, Pepsi, Seagram, SBI Cards, Reebok, Marico, Trent etc]

Sourav Ganguly - 5 crores
Days spent in Advertising: 35 days
No of Brands - 7 [TCL, Hero Honda, Tata Indicom, Sahara, Puma etc]

Dinesh Karthik - 40 Lakhs
Days spent in Advertising: 5 days
No of Brands - 1 [Nike]

And brace yourselves for the heartstopper of them all:

Sachin Tendulkar - Whopping 40-45 crores
Days spent in Advertising: 70 days
No of Brands - 14 [Pepsi, Cannon, MRF, Adidas, Pantaloons, Sunfeast etc]

So they have all the time in the world to endorse and make money but have nothing but lame excuses when it comes to performing for the country. Remember folks this money is apart from the hefty retainer fee from BCCI and per-match fee's they get.

Why Should India Be "Grateful" to Sachin Tendulkar?

CNN IBN runs an article - 'India ungrateful to Tendulkar'. Pray, tell me why in the name of the good Lord should India be grateful?

He sure has played some good cricket and he has received loads of accolades as well as compensation for the same. He is treated nothing less than a demi god in this part of the world. So if he has given his all to cricket, so has cricket given him everything be it fame or money. So where does the question of being grateful arise?

Sachin does not even bother to play domestic cricket. He has the audacity to ask for a tax waiver for his Ferrari!. And our government hands it to him in a silver platter and makes a proud statement of it to the media too!.

Wow, it surely pays to be a cricket star in India!

This SMS received on the eve of India's shameful exit from the World Cup surmises everything that needs to be said -

Arjun: Mama see baba is on TV
Anjali: Yeah
Arjun: He is hitting many sixes.
Anjali: Must be an Ad beta...


[Statistics source: India Today]

Rav Patrao Rav - Nike Cricket Ad

The latest Nike ad has me hooked. Am not one of those ardent cricket fans nor do I care much for those 'inspiring' pepsi-coke ads. But this ad has seriously made one sit up and notice. For one they have steered clear from some of the ad cliche's that we are often subjected. This one is new, unique and enjoyable for:

1. No Bollywood stars, who would'nt know the wicket from a stump. This is just a group of cricket loving gali-ka-guys
2. No Javed Akhtar-ish patriotic lyrics in Hindi but a cool goan number.
3. No funny punchlines like "Ooh Haah India". Thankfully!



Full Marks Nike. You Just Did It!.