Cricket Tourism to be on the rise

As India hosts 2 meg cricket events, Cricket Tourism will be on the rise.

Indian cricket officials are working overtime to make the Wankhede Stadium and Calcutta Eden Garden ready for the World Cup matches. There is tremendous pressure on TC Mathew, the KCA President, to make the general Kochi stadium ready for IPL matches.

India gets a glorious chance to market herself during these two mega events, which will be viewed by more than one billion worldwide.

Meanwhile Sreekant said that Sreeshant is a great Test bowler. He said this when the entire Kerala is a bit chagrined at Sreeshant's omission from the Indian WC squad. He said it was a great repertoire of outswingers which made Sreeshant such a good bowler. Sreekant had asked Sreeshant to put in a match winning performance and he did oblige.

Meanwhile, Brett Lee and Tait had been included in the Aussie squad for WC. New entrants are John Hastings and Steve Smith.

Geoff Lawson, the coach of Kochi, said he is a bit disappointed at Sreeshant's omission. He belives that India stands a good chance, on the sub continental pitches, which favour spin. He favours South Africa next, with their good pace attack and fine batsmen. Australia, he feels, cannot be ignored !

Just 30 days to go for the world to go to the crease ! The World Cup begins on Feb 19th and ends on Apri 2. On Apr 8, the IPL matches begin, ending on May 28 th. So cricket extravaganza in India. Of course Pakistan and Bangladesh also gets some matches, but the bulk are in India !

The first World Cup match will be in Dacca, on the 19th of this month, when India and Bangladesh clash. Final will be in Bombay.

The $ 4.6 b IPL will develop furthur and we have ten teams competing. There will be more spectators and viewers, as the T20 format gets worldwide acclaim.