During the recent India-England World Cup tie in Bangalore, only 1,000 tickets were sold for the match. One of the reasons was that 15,000 tickets were reserved for Kolkata fans / Bengal Cricket Association. But its president Jagmohan Dalmiya has issued a statement that they have not asked for it or got it. So those 15,000 were sold in black. Curious fans dug out some of truth. Here are the details:

Rahul Dravid got 120 tickets
Venkatesh Prasad got 100 tickets
Roger Binny got 100 tickets

All these folks except Dravid are the Karnataka State Cricket Association officials. Kumble is the president and Srinath is the secretary. Each ticket was going at thousands in black as reported by tv channels, some at Rs. 13,000 per ticket for the prime seats. Mr. Mayya one more official got Rs. 5 lakh worth of tickets. What he did with it no one knows. So far Anil Kumble & Co have not opened their mouth. Everyone still thinks Kumble and Srinath are above dirty plays. Now it may not be sure.

Who does not want easy money?

We found it heart rending on TV, the way innocent fans in queue, not urchins, but what looked like people from educated and middle class families getting beaten up by the police.
We do need to ask the question, should we support what this team supposedly representing the country. These people are more interested in the IPL, which rakes in more money. Yesteryear, most players came up from humble middle class background and when they faded they had not become any richer. They played for the love of the game and for the adulation of the fans who too were from humble background. Not any more. These days, players may have come from ordinary families, but are supported and cheered by the corporate rich and bollywood starlets. These celebrities have switched over from horse racing maidans to cricket stadiums, where they throw away their ill gotten and tax evasion money for the sake of cheap popularity.
We educated lower and middle class will do well to keep away from this show meant for the rich and famous, mind our own education, work and day to day survival. If at all we may follow the game, from tvs inside our house and pray may be the best team other than BCCI's win the tournament, so that there is less corruption and these celebrities may go back behind the horses.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Quote:

---

Originally posted by ramar2005We do need to ask the question, should we support what this team supposedly representing the country. These people are more interested in the IPL, which rakes in more money..

---