There is a famous saying these days which says that if you sincerely wish for something, the whole Universe conspires to give it to you. It seems the collective wishes and prayers of a host of sportspersons across all kinds of sports except cricket are being answered right now!

The writing is on the wall!

Cricket is dying, day by day, week after week, year after year and the slide is quite phenomenal!

However, the silver lining is it is dying at the cost of other sports which are taking the space which was single-handedly grabbed by an entertainment giant called Cricket.

But first, let’s share with you some figures about cricket’s slow and steady decline.

Hard Facts!!

Firstly, cricket’s reach in India has declined from 77% in 2010 to 70% in 2014.

If one compares the income distributed by BCCI to players, it has declined from Rs. 49crores in 2012-13 to just Rs. 11 crores in 2013-14! Now that is a huge drop!

So what is happening?

Nothing much, except the fact that fatigue is setting in. In this age of really fast life, people are not finding enough time to sit through an 8-9 hour long One-day match without the crowd-pulling power of some outstanding players. It is a fact that the era which took cricket to its stupendous heights was due to some heavyweights of Indian cricket comprising of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly and VVS Laxman. One by one everyone retired, but the final blow was Sachin’s retirement. A whole generation who got stuck to their TV sets due to maestro’s batting suddenly felt a void and couldn’t relate to his absence. No player has been able to fill the big shoes even though Virat Kohli does look promising. In short, the attraction isn’t that huge now that one gets the tendency to leave everything to just watch a match! Moreover, there are other means of entertainment for quick gratification instead of spending five days or even 8hours on a cricket match when it is not inspiring enough!

Who is winning?

The obvious winners are other sports leagues launched in recent years, including comprising of sports like football, hockey, kabaddi, badminton and tennis. These sports take almost as much time as a T-20 takes so it easily squeezes in the busy schedules. The working population is going for variety and the youth isn’t connecting to cricket the way their elders did almost 20years ago. In a way it is good because the money available to promote sports gets distributed for the development of other neglected sports and sportspersons. Instead of only one sports body getting richer and richer, everyone gets a pie of the action and benefits from it.

The Way Forward..

The only question to be answered is whether BCCI and ICC are in tune with changing realities or living in their cocoon? Globally, only 14 countries play cricket and the sports bodies have plans to cut short the number of teams playing in the next World Cup to only 10. In a scenario when cricket is losing its sheen in the biggest market, India, and no major development is happening to promote the sport in other countries, what is the future of cricket not only in India, but world over?

Till they ponder over it, let’s enjoy our IPL games!

At least they are not going anywhere, anytime soon!

The post Cricket Is Dying In India And So Are The Generated Revenues! appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

The Commonwealth Games 2014 just got concluded in Glasgow, Scotland as England topped the medal table with India coming in at 5 in the medals tally. Even though there were some serious competiton on the field, there were some that saw the funny side of it! Well, here are some funny snap from the CWG that will tickle your funny bone. If you do not believe us, well have a look at these photos below:

Long jumper Jazmin Sawyers of England really knows how to go the distance!

Ooi Tze Liang of Malaysia has a funny way to dive in the pool!

Wonder if shot putter, Annie Alexander would love a selfie this way?

Here’s Powerlifter Wilford Vea. Surely a Metallica song playing in the background. Is it?

That’s one helluva pout from Joelle Mbumi Nkouindjin

Ok, this expression is what every Indian can relate to whilst on nature’s call

Woman powerlifter Michaela Breeze proves that ‘mard ko dard nahi hota’ fact is WRONG!

Shock laga, laga, shock laga!

And rugby is consisdered to be a ‘serious’ sport.

And finally shotputter Sophie McKinna does a ‘Brad Hogg’ during her throw

The Commonwealth Games have left a great mark on the fans as far as the game is concerned but the above snaps potray a ‘different’ level of sport. CWG might have been potrayed as a serious event but the above leave a funny feeling altogether!

The post These 10 CWG 2014 Photos Are So Funny That You Will Go Totally #ROFL appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

India might not be taking the numero uno position at the CWG 2014 but can definetly grab a spot amongst the top five after their first day heroics.

Weightlifters, Sukhen Dey and K Sanjita Chanu stole the limelight by grabbing a Gold each in weightlifting, as the Indian contingent launched their CWG campaign off to a winning start by clinching as many as seven medals in all on the opening day of the competitions at Glasgow.

Meanwhile, in judo, Indian participants Navjot Chana and Shushila Likmabam tried their level best but had to contend with a silver medal after they failed to clinch the top spot in the men’s 60kg and women’s 48kg events, respectively. Besides that, female Indian judoka Kalpana Thoudam had to settle for a bronze.

In weightlifting, there was a silver medal for S Mirabai Chanu too, grabbed a silver medal in the weightlifting category while in the men’s category, Ganaesh Mali bagged a bronze.

In the other events, Indian paddlers, shuttlers and squash players had an easy day out on the first day. In badminton, India crushed Ghana 5-0 even without the services of Saina Nehwal. Alot will depend on the young shoulders of PV Sindhu and P Kashyap, who will be vying for the gold medal at this year’s CWG.

K Chanu and Sukhen Dey were, by far, the heroes for India at the opening day of CWG 2014 in Glasgow, If Chanu’s gold medal grabbed the headlines in the women’s 48kg event, Dey made an all Indian affair in the men’s 56kg contest, where the 25-year-old Dey lifted a total of 248kg after trailing at the halfway stage.

In women’s 48kg weightlifting event, Sanjita won with a total lift of 173kg, whereas her teammate, Mirabai grabbed the silver thus making a 1-2 spot for India. The clinching of gold and silver medals for the Indian powerlifters thus capped off a remarkable day for the Indians at the Clyde Auditorium in Glasgow.

Even though the likes of England and Australia are likely to dominate the Commonwealth Games, the best India could do is fight for the third-fourth spot.

With still much more action awaited, the Indian contingent can could do their nation proud, not with medals but with the efforts!

The post #CWG2014: Beginning Of Success As India Bag 7 Medals On Day 1 Of The CWG appeared first on Youngisthan.in.