Betting Beats Batting
Published December 11, 2008
In a country where cricket rules, college students are cashing in rather than padding up when it comes to India's national sport.
India is awash with cricket fever and has been for several decades. And they have good reason to be - they have star performers whose status is revered by the masses of the world's adoring cricket folk. The game is big, really big and the money changing hands is no laughing matter.
When it comes to college students, their love of cricket is no less pronounced. Indeed it may well be on the money to say that cricket is the cash cow of Indian sports. And that's exactly how these academics are spending their time - betting on their game of choice.
No padding just placing
The college kids aren't padding up to have time out in the middle, but they're placing wagers on all sorts of cricketing outcomes. Winners, losers, wickets, batsmen and bowlers are all ‘bettable' and the euphoria is taking Indian college campuses by storm.
So when a hopeful Sachin or a young Javagal contemplates his role in the game, it typically tends more towards the off-field betting activities the field of play. The game of choice - Test Cricket - this provides a more balanced and structured betting paradigm. As opposed to the potential big wins or losses and predictability of T-20 and One Day Internationals (ODIs), Test cricket is truly the most challenging form of the game.
So its wickets, runs, catches, boundaries and of course rupees galore!
