Cricket for Hockey

The stadium is empty. He sits on a bench. He won’t play. But he will cheer. He will paint his face with the tricolour. He will root for our team. He is plugging hockey. He is a cricketer.

Virendra Sehwag has been roped in to promote World Cup Hockey 2010, starting February 28. I find it hugely insulting.

I keep reading about lost past glory. What past glory does cricket have?

The major advantage, at the basic level, is that there is something like gully cricket; there is no gully hockey. It is a stadium game and needs to be treated as such.

Hockey is mired in as many controversies as the cricket organisations, but it does not have sponsors. It is a vicious circle. Someone has to start getting people interested. I am not holding a flag for it as a national game, but we have to respect the fact that it was hockey that brought us glory. It is a sport that is played internationally, too.

A film like Chak De was almost like a concession to it.

Virendra Sehwag in the ad gets attention for himself and the sport he plays. No one is interested in whether he is going to watch hockey or kabbaddi.