Each minute on the field, runs scored will translate into lakhs of rupees spent by promoters, who obviously hope to make even more profits riding on India’s craze for cricket.

Vijay Mallya, who bought Yuvraj, believes he will be able to fly high again, riding on cricket. Priety Zinta believes IPL will provide some succor away from her dwindling Bollywood career. Shilpa Shetty surely sells more of her yoga DVDs, by being in the cricketing limelight via her IPL team, Rajasthan Royals. Meanwhile, no cricketer with even a remote possibility of being selected for the IPL wants to rest on his laurels or retire in a hurry.

Kevin Pietersen (Rs. 9 crore) is laughing all the way to the bank despite being sacked from the England cricket team on grounds not connected to merit. Whoever said intrigue is monopoly of BCCI, otherwise one of the world’s richest sports bodies.

Virendra Sehwag, however, wants to run a school, which is noble. But, then Viru has always been a little different from the rest. The Indian interest in cricket cuts across class, caste, age or gender. It’s the kind of following any politician or political party could die for.

Narendra Modi has had to work hard for 10 years in Gujarat. Still, he is unsure about the middle class votes. Rahul Gandhi constantly speaks about the sacrifices of his family for generations. Still, the Congress is staring at defeat in the general elections this summer.

The IPL auctions offer a governance lesson too – just like cricketers, it is only open market bidding that can determine the right price for India’s natural resources such as telecom spectrum, land or coal blocks. Not undercover allotments to crony capitalists that Arvind Kejriwal recently spelled out are the real destroyers of India.

The former Delhi Chief Minister never ceases to surprise. Just as one was beginning to believe he is a maverick who will drive any government to bankruptcy by extending unsustainable freebies in power or water supply, the Aam Aadmi leader recently revealed a new pro-business side.

Kejriwal needs to learn from Sunny Leone and bare all, rather than confusing and frustrating his followers to no end. Will the Indian cricket bubble burst? Not in a hurry. As long as the Indian cricket team continues to be a subcontinent bully, the followers will stick. The tag of minnows abroad will be forgotten after a successful domestic series. No point in blaming “obnoxious’’ M.S. Dhoni for holding the worst overseas record following recent failures in South Africa and New Zealand on the back of abject surrenders in England and Australia.

Dhoni could be sacrificed and Virat Kohli may be the new leader in the near future. But, any captain will be helpless so long as Indian dust-bowl pitches produce assembly line cricketers such as Suresh Raina, proficient in hitting sixes off balls that only remain below the kneepad.

Such consistent bounce can only breed cricketers woefully inconsistent abroad on bouncy wickets. Plus, conditions of wickets in India are simply not conducive to breeding top class fast bowlers who can make a difference abroad. 

Despite the match fixing controversies, present and past, Indian fans believe games are mostly fair and competitive. Indian cricket has been lucky to produce personalities such as Sachin Tedulkar, Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly, V.V.S. Laxman and Sunil Gavaskar who played the game in the truest spirit. This is unlike the general disillusionment with politics, where the corrupt and criminal often call the shots. Decisions are made for narrow political gains, for example the Tamil Nadu Jayalalithaa government recently deciding to release Rajiv Gandhi’s assassins, or earlier the Congress at the center hanging Afzal Guru out of turn.

Further, no other team sport in India, that really draws the eyeballs, can challenge the supremacy of cricket in the foreseeable future. Indian hockey standards are poor due to lack of facilities and inept management. The team even failed to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Any under-19 school or college soccer side from Europe can whip our national team, under any conditions. Flashes of brilliance such as Saina Nehwal can only be minor diversions from the main fix. Like 24 Hour news channels, non-stop cricket through the year will remain a fact of life for Indians. Nobody will complain as long as everybody makes more and more money. Cricket, Bollywood, Sunny Leone and Arnab Goswami will continue be India’s main entertainment options for some time to come, for sure.