Cricket,the mega sports of the time, lives in its plethora of records.Every turf where the event is staged ,by its unique gentility brings forth an action, which finds a birth in the stat-book.The protagonists and the spectators alike nurse the sublime romance with the record.
March 16 was such a day on which the subtle debates of all cricket lovers converged to one point- the great fete of mankind-the 100th ton of 'Ton'dulkar, the Indian maestro.The immortal tour- de- force shall repose on the petals of history unperturbed and unsurpassed.

The excruciating yet immensely stubborn wait for the elusive and the most arduous ton at hold for more than an year or so had a logic denouement.The glorious and majestic jog at the innocuous delivery behind the squire leg for a single of Al Hassan at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium has made him the God of great things in Cricket.

Sachin was greatly relieved- having surpassed a moment that was treacherously tantalising .He did not cover up his sigh and minced no words to declare"I have to admit that I was relieved.This is now out of the way,and I can start a new chapter." Sachin is a free man now.
Suchin raised to the vertiginous heights was not playing.In fact he was outstretching himself against the scrutiny and the auditing exercise of his country men on his runs.He could not be enjoying but star-crossed as he was going extra miles to propitiate the intimidating expectations of the nation.He was laboring strenuously under great duress.Although he would be quick to respond in the negative.So what lies ahead? He quips with a blatent rejection of any thought of retirement."It is about enjoyment, about feeling motivated, about the desire to deliver and how passionate I feel about the game. I am madly in love with cricket. At this stage, I enjoy every moment.”
Indian psyche is like that.The 99 hundreds that danced in their heart seemed no more tobe a thing of joy but insignificant and nugatory.The struggle and stretch in the making were a nickel and dime job for the millions.This is the paradigm of the subcontinental psyche wherein we ignore the obvious.After a vociferous celebration of the century made in the last evening by a class batsman in the middle ,they rise up in the next morning with a scoreboard zero ,rapacious and clamouring for another ton from him,visibly unsatiated like an account keeper who straightens his accounts in the grocery shop.
Cricket is the glorious game of individual statistics.None cares whether India won the game or not.Every eye is fixed in the individual score.Whether India is thrown out of Asia cup after getting slighted and drubbed at the hands of a poor shot like Bangladesh ,is not a thing of great concern.But when Sachin tendulkar made it 100,Indians breathed the sigh of relief.
For the cricket bigots cricket is not a game but is the narcissistic indulgence in the ecstasy of statistics of their demi-Gods. Kanhai's falling speed shots,Viswanadh's enchanting squire drives,Kalicharan's half-cocked defense,VVS Laxmans unorthodox yet heart boggling obduracy to stay on the middle are not a thing of beauty.This sport is perhaps the only discipline in which a lay spectator's view sounds reliable far better than a skewed expert opinion.
Why do that happen?
“As modern sport has become global in scope it has largely lost its playful character and its professional practice has become both a global media spectacle and a serious and financially significant global business,” concludes sociologist Barry Stuart.
Sport’s tenets are no longer confined to the contours of entertainment, but vastly encompass trade, business and politics. Talent, speed and innovation are trans nationally accepted in sports as in business too. The cultural heritages whether books, food or sports – are stealthily appropriated from the real owners and effectively trans-marketed over television or the Internet. Barry Stuart writes “low common denominators, a cheap entrance ticket and immediate gratification are factors facilitating global dissemination.
The globalization of cricket though admittedly remains a chimera ,yet to consummately conquer the developed countries, has followed a non - familiar pattern of dispersion in its global coarse.The non-Western countries especially the former British colonies have begun to dominate and have taken control of the economics and politics of the game by the concentrations of the trinity -wealth, media, and marketing.Cricket has been so blatantly “Indianized”.The 20-Twenty TV friendly format of the game carved out by IPL has accentuated the popularity and added to it a sobriquet "the mass TV sport" ,completely renovating the way how it is organized, played, and watched all over the world.
The growth of The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has been phenomenal.In 1983 when Kapils Devils snatched the World Cup , BCCI could not afford to host a good feast for the victorious warriors because it was really stifled with cash and had only Rs 2,00,000 in its coffers.BCCI is a club,originally registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act,is now patronaged and run by industrialists and politicians. India's agriculture minister, Sharad Pawar, is the present president. BCCI, flush and froth with money,dominates the world cricket and calls the shots in international cricket. As per Forbes magazine the BCCI was worth $1.5 billion, Wales Cricket Board $270 million and Cricket Australia $225 million. The ICC was pegged much lower at $200 million. The others were Pakistan ($100 million), South Africa ($65 million), Sri Lanka ($14 million) and Bangladesh ($5 million). "
There are 10 full members of ICC, but in terms of revenue India contributes more than 70% to the game.The magazine wrote: "Most sponsorships and broadcast rights come from India, and Indian tours make foreign boards rich."
The BCCI has made dazzling money in the process. It collected $612 million from Nimbus Communications for the global media rights to all international and domestic cricket owned or controlled by BCCI to be played in India from 1 March 2006 to 31 March 2010. Later it sold its global media rights for one-day internationals (ODIs) at neutral venues (places like Abu Dhabi, Holland, the U.S. and Malaysia, where cricket is not very popular) to Zee Telefilms for $220 million. This contract runs up to March 31, 2010. The BCCI has also sold the kit sponsorship to Nike for $45 million for five years through December 31, 2010. The team sponsorship has gone to Air Sahara for $72 million. The board's income has crossed $1 billion. New Delhi-headquartered financial daily Business Standard estimates that it will get another $450 million from the sale of other rights, including hotel, travel and ground sponsorship.

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